The  Fasting 


Mr.  Sinclair's  expression,  as  shown  in  the  upper 
photograph,  used  to  be  called  "  spiritual."  Systematic 
fasting  has  evolved  the  athletic  figure  pictured  below. 

This  book  is  a  reprint  of  two  articles  written  by  Mr.  Sinclair  for 
the  Cosmopolitan  Magazine  on  the  general  subject  of  fasting 
for  health,  together  with  the  most  interesting  of  the  numerous 
newspaper  comments  that  they  brought  forth,  and  the  most 
significant  letters  written  to  him  by  private  individuals  asking  his 
advice  and  detailing  their  own  experiments  along  similar  lines. 
There  are  also  extracts  from  some  of  the  author's  articles  in  the 
Physical  Culture  Magazine,  from  articles  replying,  to  his  and 
from  other  replies  in  rebuttal. 


• 


o? 


THE   FASTING   CURE 


BY  UPTON  SINCLAIR 

LOVE'S    PILGRIMAGE 

THE  FASTING  CURE 

KING   MIDAS 

PRINCE   HAGEN 

THE  JOURNAL  OF  ARTHUR  STIRLING 

MANASSAS 

THE   OVERMAN 

THE  JUNGLE 

THE   INDUSTRIAL   REPUBLIC 

THE   METROPOLIS 

THE    MONEYCHANGERS 

SAMUEL   THE   SEEKER 


at  all  bookshops 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/fastingcureOOsincrich 


Mr.  Sinclair's  expression,  as  shown  in  the  upper 
photograph,  used  to  be  called  "spiritual."  Systematic 
fasting  has  evolved  the  athletic  figure  pictured  below. 


The  Fasting  Cure 

by 
UPTON    SINCLAIR 


MITCHELL   KENNERLEY 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

MCMXI 


COPYRIGHT,     I9I I 
BY    MITCHELL    KENNERLEY 


THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS,    CAMBRIDGE,    O.  8.  A. 


TO  BERNARR    MA  CF ADD  EN 

in  cordial  appreciation  of  his  personality 
and  teachings 


THE   FASTING    CURE 


Contents 


Preface 

Page 

5 

Perfect  Health 

9 

A  Letter  to  the  New  York  Times 

34 

Some  Notes  on  Fasting 

39 

Fasting  and  the  Doctors 

48 

The  Humors  of  Fasting 

53 

A  Symposium  on  Fasting 

62 

Death  during  the  Fast 

68 

Fasting  and  the  Mind 

74 

Diet  after  the  Fast 

81 

The  Use  of  Meat 

86 

Appendix 

Some  Letters  from  Fasters 

105 

The  Fruit  and  Nut  Diet 

132 

The  Rader  Case 

x37 

Horace  Fletcher's  Fast 

J43 

PREFACE 

IN  the  Cosmopolitan  Magazine  for  May,  19 10, 
and  in  the  Contemporary  Review  (London) 
for  April,  19 10,  I  published  an  article  dealing 
with  my  experiences  in  fasting.  I  have  written  a 
great  many  magazine  articles,  but  never  one 
which  attracted  so  much  attention  as  this.  The 
first  day  the  magazine  was  on  the  news-stands,  I 
received  a  telegram  from  a  man  in  Washington 
who  had  begun  to  fast  and  wanted  some  advice; 
and  thereafter  I  received  ten  or  twenty  letters  a 
day  from  people  who  had  questions  to  ask  or  ex- 
periences to  narrate.  At  the  date  of  writing  eight 
months  have  passed,  and  the  flood  has  not  yet 
stopped.  The  editors  of  the  Cosmopolitan  also 
tell  me  that  they  have  never  received  so  many 
letters  about  an  article  in  their  experience.  Still 
more  significant  was  the  number  of  reports  which 
began  to  appear  in  the  news  columns  of  papers 
all  over  the  country,  telling  of  people  who  were 
fasting.  From  various  sources  I  have  received 
about  fifty  such  clippings,  and  few  but  reported 
benefit  to  the  faster. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  interest,  I  was  asked 
by   the    Cosmopolitan   to   write    another   article, 


6  PREFACE 

which  appeared  in  the  issue  of  February,  191 1. 
The  present  volume  is  made  up  from  these  two 
articles,  with  the  addition  of  some  notes  and  com- 
ments, and  some  portions  of  articles  contributed 
to  the  Physical  Culture  magazine,  of  the  editorial 
staff  of  which  I  am  a  member.  It  was  my  inten- 
tion at  first  to  work  this  matter  into  a  connected 
whole,  but  upon  rereading  the  articles  I  decided 
that  it  would  be  better  to  publish  them  as  they 
stood.  The  journalistic  style  has  its  advantages; 
and  repetitions  may  perhaps  be  pardoned  in  the 
case  of  a  topic  which  is  so  new  to  almost  every 
one. 

I  have  reproduced  in  the  book  several  photo- 
graphs of  myself  which  appeared  in  the  magazine 
articles.  Ordinarily  one  does  not  print  his  pic- 
ture in  his  own  books;  but  when  it  comes  to  fast- 
ing there  are  many  "  doubting  Thomases,"  and 
we  are  told  that  u  seeing  is  believing."  The  two 
photographs  of  myself  which  appear  as  a  frontis- 
piece afford  evidence  of  a  really  extraordinary 
physical  recuperation;  and  the  reader  has  my 
word  for  it  that  there  was  nothing  in  my  way  of 
life  to  account  for  it,  except  three  fasts,  of  a  total 
of  thirty  days. 

There  is  one  other  matter  to  be  referred  to. 
Several  years  ago  I  published  a  book  entitled 
"  Good  Health,"  written  in  collaboration  with  a 


PREFACE  7 

friend.  I  could  not  express  my  own  views  fully 
in  that  book,  and  on  certain  points  where  I  differed 
with  my  collaborator,  I  have  come  since  to  differ 
still  more.  The  book  contains  a  great  deal  of  use- 
ful information;  but  later  experience  has  con- 
vinced me  that  its  views  on  the  all-important  sub- 
ject of  diet  are  erroneous.  My  present  opinions 
I  have  given  in  this  book.  I  am  not  saying  this 
to  apologize  for  an  inconsistency,  but  to  record  a 
growth.  In  those  days  I  believed  something,  be- 
cause other  people  told  me ;  to-day  I  know  some- 
thing else,  because  I  have  tried  it  upon  myself. 

My  object  in  publishing  this  book  is  two-fold: 
first,  to  have  something  to  which  I  can  refer 
people,  so  that  I  will  not  have  to  answer  half  a 
dozen  "  fasting  letters  "  every  day  for  the  rest  of 
my  life;  and  second,  in  the  hope  of  attracting 
sufficient  attention  to  the  subject  to  interest  some 
scientific  men  in  making  a  real  investigation  of 
it.  To-day  we  know  certain  facts  about  what 
is  called  "  autointoxication";  we  know  them  be- 
cause Metchnikoff,  Pawlow  and  others  have  made 
a  thorough-going  inquiry  into  the  subject.  I  be- 
lieve that  the  subject  of  fasting  is  one  of  just  as 
great  importance.  I  have  stated  facts  in  this 
book  about  myself;  and  I  have  quoted  many  let- 
ters which  are  genuine  and  beyond  dispute.  The 
cures  which  they  record  are  altogether  without 


8 


PREFACE 


precedent,  I  think.  The  reader  will  find  in  the 
course  of  the  book  (page  63)  a  tabulation  of 
the  results  of  277  cases  of  fasting.  In  this  num- 
ber of  desperate  cases,  there  were  only  about  half 
a  dozen  definite  and  unexplained  failures  reported. 
Surely  it  cannot  be  that  medical  men  and  scien- 
tists will  continue  for  much  longer  to  close  their 
eyes  to  facts  of  such  vital  significance  as  this. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  be  the  discoverer  of  the 
fasting  cure.  The  subject  was  discussed  by  Dr. 
E.  H.  Dewey  in  books  which  were  published  thirty 
or  forty  years  ago.  For  the  reader  who  cares  to 
investigate  further,  I  mention  the  following  books, 
which  I  have  read  with  interest  and  profit.  I  rec- 
ommend them,  although,  needless  to  say,  I  do  not 
agree  with  everything  that  is  in  them :  "  Fasting 
for  the  Cure  of  Disease,"  by  Dr.  L.  B.  Hazzard; 
"  Perfect  Health,"  by  C.  C.  Haskell;  "  Fasting, 
Hydrotherapy  and  Exercise,"  by  Bernarr  Mac- 
fadden;  "Fasting,  Vitality  and  Nutrition,"  by 
Hereward  Carrington.  Also  I  will  add  that  Mr. 
C.  C.  Haskell,  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  conducts  a 
correspondence-school  dealing  with  the  subject  of 
fasting,  and  that  fasting  patients  are  taken  charge 
of  at  Bernarr  Macfadden's  Healthatorium,  42d 
Street  and  Grand  Boulevard,  Chicago,  111.,  and 
by  Dr.  Linda  B.  Hazzard,  of  Seattle,  Washington. 


The  Fasting  Cure 


PERFECT   HEALTH 

PERFECT  HEALTH! 
Have  you  any  conception  of  what  the 
phrase  means  ?  Can  you  form  any  image  of  what 
would  be  your  feeling  if  every  organ  in  your 
body  were  functioning  perfectly?  Perhaps  you 
can  go  back  to  some  day  in  your  youth,  when  you 
got  up  early  in  the  morning  and  went  for  a  walk, 
and  the  spirit  of  the  sunrise  got  into  your  blood, 
and  you  walked  faster,  and  took  deep  breaths, 
and  laughed  aloud  for  the  sheer  happiness  of  being 
alive  in  such  a  world  of  beauty.  And  now  you 
are  grown  older  —  and  what  would  you  give  for 
the  secret  of  that  glorious  feeling?  What  would 
you  say  if  you  were  told  that  you  could  bring  it 
back  and  keep  it,  not  only  for  mornings,  but  for 
afternoons  and  evenings,  and  not  as  something 
accidental  and  mysterious,  but  as  something  which 
you  yourself  have  created,  and  of  which  you  are 
completely  master  ? 


IO  THE   FASTING    CURE 

This  is  not  an  introduction  to  a  new  device  in 
patent  medicine  advertising.  I  have  nothing  to 
sell,  and  no  process  patented.  It  is  simply  that 
for  ten  years  I  have  been  studying  the  ill  health 
of  myself  and  of  the  men  and  women  around  me. 
And  I  have  found  the  cause  and  the  remedy.  I 
have  not  only  found  good  health,  but  perfect 
health;  I  have  found  a  new  state  of  being,  a  new 
potentiality  of  life;  a  sense  of  lightness  and 
cleanness  and  joyfulness,  such  as  I  did  not  know 
could  exist  in  the  human  body.  "  I  like  to  meet 
you  on  the  street/'  said  a  friend  the  other  day. 
14  You  walk  as  if  it  were  such  fun !  " 

I  look  about  me  in  the  world,  and  nearly  every- 
body I  know  is  sick.  I  could  name  one  after  an- 
other a  hundred  men  and  women,  who  are  doing 
vital  work  for  progress  and  carrying  a  cruel  handi- 
cap of  physical  suffering.  For  instance,  I  am 
working  for  social  justice,  and  I  have  comrades 
whose  help  is  needed  every  hour,  and  they  are 
ill!  In  one  single  week's  newspapers  last  spring 
I  read  that  one  was  dying  of  kidney  trouble,  that 
another  was  in  hospital  from  nervous  break- 
down, and  that  a  third  was  ill  with  ptomaine 
poisoning.  And  in  my  correspondence  I  am  told 
that  another  of  my  dearest  friends  has  only  a 
year  to  live;  that  another  heroic  man  is  a  ner- 
vous wreck,  craving  for  death;    and  that  a  third 


PERFECT    HEALTH  II 

is  tortured  by  bilious  headaches.1  And  there  is 
not  one  of  these  people  whom  I  could  not  cure 
if  I  had  him  alone  for  a  couple  of  weeks;  no  one 
of  them  who  would  not  in  the  end  be  walking 
down  the  street  "  as  if  it  were  such  fun !  " 

I  propose  herein  to  tell  the  story  of  my  dis- 
covery of  health,  and  I  shall  not  waste  much  time 
in  apologizing  for  the  intimate  nature  of  the  nar- 
rative. It  is  no  pleasure  for  me  to  tell  over  the 
tale  of  my  headaches  or  to  discuss  my  unruly 
stomach.  I  cannot  take  any  case  but  my  own, 
because  there  is  no  case  about  which  I  can  speak 
with  such  authority.  To  be  sure,  I  might  write 
about  it  in  the  abstract,  and  in  veiled  terms.  But 
in  that  case  the  story  would  lose  most  of  its  con- 
vincingness, and  so  of  its  usefulness.  I  might 
tell  it  without  signing  my  name  to  it.  But  there 
are  a  great  many  people  who  have  read  my  books 
and  will  believe  what  I  tell  them,  who  would  not 
take  the  trouble  to  read  an  article  without  a 
name.  Mr.  Horace  Fletcher  has  set  us  all  an 
example  in  this  matter.  He  has  written  several 
volumes  about  his  individual  digestion,  with  the 
result  that  literally  millions  of  people  have  been 
helped.  In  the  same  way  I  propose  to  put  my 
case  on  record.     The  reader  will  find  that  it  is  a 

1  The  first  two  of  these,  Edmond  Kelly  and  Ben  Hanford,  have 
since  died. 


12  THE  FASTING   CURE 

typical  case,  for  I  made  about  every  mistake  that 
a  man  could  make,  and  tried  every  remedy,  old 
and  new,  that  anybody  had  to  offer  me. 

I  spent  my  boyhood  in  a  well-to-do  family,  in 
which  good  eating  was  regarded  as  a  social  grace 
and  the  principal  interest  in  life.  We  had  a 
colored  woman  to  prepare  our  food,  and  another 
to  serve  it.  It  was  not  considered  fitting  for  chil- 
dren to  drink  liquor,  but  they  had  hot  bread 
three  times  a  day,  and  they  were  permitted  to 
revel  in  fried  chicken  and  rich  gravies  and 
pastries,  fruit  cake  and  candy  and  ice-cream. 
Every  Sunday  I  would  see  my  grandfather's  table 
with  a  roast  of  beef  at  one  end,  and  a  couple  of 
chickens  at  the  other,  and  a  cold  ham  at  one  side; 
at  Christmas  and  Thanksgiving  the  energies  of 
the  whole  establishment  would  be  given  up  to  the 
preparation  of  delicious  foods.  And  later  on, 
when  I  came  to  New  York,  I  considered  it  neces- 
sary to  have  such  food;  even  when  I  was  a  poor 
student,  living  on  four  dollars  a  week,  I  spent 
more  than  three  of  it  on  eatables. 

I  was  an  active  and  fairly  healthy  boy;  at 
twenty  I  remember  saying  that  I  had  not  had  a 
day's  serious  sickness  in  fourteen  years.  Then 
I  wrote  my  first  novel,  working  sixteen  or  eigh- 
teen hours  a  day  for  several  months,  camping 
out,  and  living  mostly  out  of  a  frying-pan.     At 


PERFECT   HEALTH  13 

the  end  I  found  that  I  was  seriously  troubled  with 
dyspepsia;  and  it  was  worse  the  next  year,  after 
the  second  book.  I  went  to  see  a  physician,  who 
gave  me  some  red  liquid,  which  magically  relieved 
the  consequences  of  doing  hard  brain-work  after 
eating.  So  I  went  on  for  a  year  or  two  more, 
and  then  I  found  that  the  artificially-digested 
food  was  not  being  eliminated  from  my  system 
with  sufficient  regularity.  So  I  went  to  another 
physician,  who  gave  my  malady  another  name, 
and  gave  me  another  medicine,  and  put  off  the 
time  of  reckoning  a  little  while  longer. 

I  have  never  in  my  life  used  tea  or  coffee, 
alcohol  or  tobacco;  but  for  seven  or  eight  years 
I  worked  under  heavy  pressure  all  the  time,  and 
ate  very  irregularly,  and  ate  unwholesome  food. 
So  I  began  to  have  headaches  once  in  a  while, 
and  to  notice  that  I  was  abnormally  sensitive  to 
colds.  I  considered  these  maladies  natural  to 
mortals,  and  I  would  always  attribute  them  to 
some  specific  accident.  I  would  say,  "  I  Ve  been 
knocking  about  down  town  all  day  " ;  or,  "  I  was 
out  in  the  hot  sun  " ;  or,  "  I  lay  on  the  damp 
ground."  I  found  that  if  I  sat  in  a  draught  for 
even  a  minute  I  was  certain  to  u  catch  a  cold." 
I  found  also  that  I  had  sore  throat  and  tonsilitis 
once  or  twice  every  winter;  also,  now  and  then, 
the  grippe.     There  were  times  when  I  did  not 


14  THE   FASTING    CURE 

sleep  well;  and  as  all  this  got  worse,  I  would 
have  to  drop  all  my  work  and  try  to  rest.  The 
first  time  I  did  this  a  week  or  two  was  sufficient; 
but  later  on  a  month  or  two  was  necessary,  and 
then  several  months. 

The  year  I  wrote  "  The  Jungle  "  I  had  my 
first  summer  cold.  It  was  haying  time  on  a  farm, 
and  I  thought  it  was  a  kind  of  hay-fever.  I 
would  sneeze  for  hours  in  perfect  torment,  and 
this  lasted  for  a  month,  until  I  went  away  to.  the 
sea-shore.  This  happened  again  the  next  sum- 
mer, and  also  another  very  painful  experience;  a 
nerve  in  a  tooth  died,  and  I  had  to  wait  three 
days  for  the  pain  to  "  localize/'  and  then  had 
the  tooth  drilled  out,  and  staggered  home,  and 
was  ill  in  bed  for  a  week  with  chills  and  fever, 
and  nausea  and  terrible  headaches.  I  mention  all 
these  unpleasant  details  so  that  the  reader  may 
understand  the  state  of  wretchedness  to  which  I 
had  come.  At  the  same  time,  also,  I  had  a  great 
deal  of  distressing  illness  in  my  family;  my  wife 
seldom  had  a  week  without  suffering,  and  my  little 
boy  had  pneumonia  one  winter,  and  croup  the 
next,  and  whooping-cough  in  the  summer,  with 
the  inevitable  "  colds  "  scattered  in  between. 

After  the  Helicon  Hall  fire  I  realized  that  I 
was  in  a  bad  way,  and  for  the  two  years  following 
I  gave  a  good  part  of  my  time  to  trying  to  find 


PERFECT   HEALTH  1 5 

out  how  to  preserve  my  health.  I  went  to  Battle 
Creek,  and  to  Bermuda,  and  to  the  Adirondacks; 
I  read  the  books  of  all  the  new  investigators 
of  the  subject  of  hygiene,  and  tried  out  their 
theories  religiously.  I  had  discovered  Horace 
Fletcher  a  couple  of  years  before.  Mr.  Fletcher's 
idea  is,  in  brief,  to  chew  your  food,  and  chew  it 
thoroughly;  to  extract  from  each  particle  of  food 
the  maximum  of  nutriment,  and  to  eat  only  as 
much  as  your  system  actually  needs.  This  was 
a  very  wonderful  idea  to  me,  and  I  fell  upon  it 
with  the  greatest  enthusiasm.  All  the  physicians 
I  had  known  were  men  who  tried  to  cure  me  when 

I  fell  sick,  but  here  was  a  man  who  was  studying 
how  to  stay  well.  I  have  to  find  fault  with  Mr. 
Fletcher's  system,  and  so  I  must  make  clear  at 
the  outset  how  much  I  owe  to  it.  It  set  me  upon 
the  right  track  —  it  showed  me  the  goal,  even  if 
it  did  not  lead  me  to  it.  It  made  clear  to  me  that 
all  my  various  ailments  were  symptoms  of  one 
great  trouble,  the  presence  in  my  body  of  the 
poisons  produced  by  superfluous  and  unassimi- 
lated  food,  and  that  in  adjusting  the  quantity  of 
food  to  the  body's  exact  needs  lay  the  secret  of 
perfect  health. 

It  was  only  in  the  working  out  of  the  theory 
that   I   fell   down.      Mr.   Fletcher  told  me  that 

II  Nature  "  would  be  my  guide,  and  that  if  only 


1 6  THE   FASTING   CURE 

I  masticated  thoroughly,  instinct  would  select  the 
foods.  I  found  that,  so  far  as  my  case  was  con- 
cerned, my  "  nature  "  was  hopelessly  perverted. 
I  invariably  preferred  unwholesome  foods  — 
apple  pie,  and  toast  soaked  in  butter,  and  stewed 
fruit  with  quantities  of  cream  and  sugar.  Nor 
did  "  Nature  "  kindly  tell  me  when  to  stop,  as  she 
apparently  does  some  other  "  Fletcherites  " ;  no 
matter  how  much  I  chewed,  if  I  ate  all  I  wanted 
I  ate  too  much.  And  when  I  realized  this,  and 
tried  to  stop  it,  I  went,  in  my  ignorance,  to  the 
other  extreme,  and  lost  fourteen  pounds  in  as 
many  days.  Again,  Mr.  Fletcher  taught  me  to 
remove  all  the  "  unchewable  "  parts  of  the  food 
—  the  skins  of  fruit,  etc.  The  result  of  this  is 
there  is  nothing  to  stimulate  the  intestines,  and 
the  waste  remains  in  the  body  for  many  days. 
Mr.  Fletcher  says  this  does  not  matter,  and  he 
appears  to  prove  that  it  has  not  mattered  in  his 
case.  But  I  found  that  it  mattered  very  seriously 
in  my  case;  it  was  not  until  I  became  a  "  Fletcher- 
ite  "  that  my  headaches  became  hopeless  and  that 
sluggish  intestines  became  one  of  my  chronic 
complaints. 

I  next  read  the  books  of  Metchnikoff  and  Chit- 
tenden, who  showed  me  just  how  my  ailments 
came  to  be.  The  unassimilated  food  lies  in  the 
colon,  and  bacteria  swarm  in  it,  and  the  poisons 


PERFECT   HEALTH  1 7 

they  produce  are  absorbed  into  the  system.  I 
had  bacteriological  examinations  made  in  my  own 
case,  and  I  found  that  when  I  was  feeling  well 
the  number  of  these  toxin-producing  germs  was 
about  six  billions  to  the  ounce  of  intestinal  con- 
tents; and  when,  a  few  days  later,  I  had  a 
headache,  the  number  was  a  hundred  and  twenty 
billions.  Here  was  my  trouble  under  the  micro- 
scope, so  to  speak. 

These  tests  were  made  at  the  Battle  Creek  Sani- 
tarium, where  I  went  for  a  long  stay.  I  tried 
their  system  of  water  cure,  which  I  found  a  won- 
derful stimulant  to  the  eliminative  organs;  but 
I  discovered  that,  like  all  other  stimulants,  it 
leaves  you  in  the  end  just  where  you  were.  My 
health  was  improved  at  the  sanitarium,  but  a 
week  after  I  left  I  was  down  with  the  grippe 
again. 

I  gave  the  next  year  of  my  life  to  trying  to 
restore  my  health.  I  spent  the  winter  in  Ber- 
muda and  the  summer  in  the  Adirondacks,  both 
of  them  famous  health  resorts,  and  during  the 
entire  time  I  lived  an  absolutely  hygienic  life.  I 
did  not  work  hard,  and  I  did  not  worry,  and  I 
did  not  think  about  my  health  except  when  I  had 
to.  I  lived  in  the  open  air  all  the  time,  and  I  gave 
most  of  the  day  to  vigorous  exercise  —  tennis, 
walking,  boating  and  swimming.     I  mention  this 


1 8  THE   FASTING   CURE 

specifically,  so  that  the  reader  may  perceive  that 
I  had  eliminated  all  other  factors  of  ill-health, 
and  appreciate  to  the  full  my  statement  that  at  the 
end  of  the  year's  time  my  general  health  was 
worse  than  ever  before. 

I  was  all  right  so  long  as  I  played  tennis  all  day 
or  climbed  mountains.  The  trouble  came  when 
I  settled  down  to  do  brain-work.  And  from  this 
I  saw  perfectly  clearly  that  I  was  over-eating; 
there  was  surplus  food  to  be  burned  up,  and  when 
it  was  not  burned  up  it  poisoned  me.  But  how 
was  I  to  stop  when  I  was  hungry?  I  tried  giving 
up  all  the  things  I  liked  and  of  which  I  ate  most; 
but  that  did  no  good,  because  I  had  such  a  com- 
placent appetite  —  I  would  immediately  take  to 
liking  the  other  things !  I  thought  that  I  had  an 
abnormal  appetite,  the  result  of  my  early  train- 
ing;  but  how  was  I  ever  to  get  rid  of  it? 

I  must  not  give  the  impression  that  I  was  a 
conspicuously  hearty  eater.  On  the  contrary,  I  ate 
far  less  than  most  people  eat.  But  that  was  no 
consolation  to  me.  I  had  wrecked  myself  by  years 
of  overwork,  and  so  I  was  more  sensitive.  The 
other  people  were  going  to  pieces  by  slow  stages, 
I  could  see;   but  I  was  already  in  pieces. 

So  matters  stood  when  I  chanced  to  meet  a 
lady,  whose  radiant  complexion  and  extraordi- 
nary health  were  a  matter  of  remark  to  every- 


PERFECT   HEALTH  1 9 

one.  I  was  surprised  to  hear  that  for  ten  or  fif- 
teen years,  and  until  quite  recently,  she  had  been 
a  bed-ridden  invalid.  She  had  lived  the  lonely 
existence  of  a  pioneer's  wife,  and  had  raised  a 
family  under  conditions  of  shocking  ill-health. 
She  had  suffered  from  sciatica  and  acute  rheu- 
matism; from  a  chronic  intestinal  trouble  which 
the  doctors  called  "  intermittent  peritonitis " ; 
from  intense  nervous  weakness,  melancholy,  and 
chronic  catarrh,  causing  deafness.  And  this  was 
the  woman  who  rode  on  horseback  with  me  up 
Mount  Hamilton,  in  California,  a  distance  of 
twenty-eight  miles,  in  one  of  the  most  terrific 
rain-storms  I  have  ever  witnessed!  We  had  two 
untamed  young  horses,  and  only  leather  bits  to 
control  them  with,  and  we  were  pounded  and 
flung  about  for  six  mortal  hours,  which  I  shall 
never  forget  if  I  live  to  be  a  hundred.  And  this 
woman,  when  she  took  the  ride,  had  not  eaten  a 
particle  of  food  for  four  days  previously! 

That  was  the  clue  to  her  escape :  she  had  cured 
herself  by  a  fast.  She  had  abstained  from  food 
for  eight  days,  and  all  her  troubles  had  fallen 
from  her.  Afterwards  she  had  taken  her  eldest 
son,  a  senior  at  Stanford,  and  another  friend  of 
his,  and  fasted  twelve  days  with  them,  and  cured 
them  of  nervous  dyspepsia.  And  then  she  had 
taken  a  woman  friend,  the  wife  of  a  Stanford 


20  THE   FASTING   CURE 

professor,  and  cured  her  of  rheumatism  by  a 
week's  fast.  I  had  heard  of  the  fasting  cure,  but 
this  was  the  first  time  I  had  met  with  it.  I  was 
too  much  burdened  with  work  to  try  it  just  then, 
but  I  began  to  read  up  on  the  subject  —  the 
books  of  Dr.  Dewey,  Dr.  Hazzard  and  Mr.  Car- 
rington.  Coming  home  from  California  I  got 
a  sunstroke  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  spent  a 
week  in  hospital  at  Key  West,  and  that  seemed 
to  give  the  coup  de  grace  to  my  long-suffering 
stomach.  After  another  spell  of  hard  work  I 
found  myself  unable  to  digest  corn-meal  mush  and 
milk;   and  so  I  was  ready  for  a  fast. 

I  began.  The  fast  has  become  a  commonplace 
to  me  now;  but  I  will  assume  that  it  is  as  new 
and  as  startling  to  the  reader  as  it  was  to  my- 
self at  first,  and  will  describe  my  sensations  at 
length. 

I  was  very  hungry  for  the  first  day  —  the  un- 
wholesome, ravening  sort  of  hunger  that  all  dys- 
peptics know.  I  had  a  little  hunger  the  second 
morning,  and  thereafter,  to  my  very  great  aston- 
ishment, no  hunger  whatever  —  no  more  interest 
in  food  than  if  I  had  never  known  the  taste  of 
it.  Previous  to  the  fast  I  had  had  a  headache 
every  day  for  two  or  three  weeks.  It  lasted 
through  the  first  day  and  then  disappeared  — 
never  to  return.    I  felt  very  weak  the  second  day, 


PERFECT   HEALTH  21 

and  a  little  dizzy  on  arising.  I  went  out  of  doors 
and  lay  in  the  sun  all  day,  reading;  and  the  same 
for  the  third  and  fourth  days  —  intense  physi- 
cal lassitude,  but  with  great  clearness  of  mind. 
After  the  fifth  day  I  felt  stronger,  and  walked  a 
good  deal,  and  I  also  began  some  writing.  No 
phase  of  the  experience  surprised  me  more  than 
the  activity  of  my  mind:  I  read  and  wrote  more 
than  I  had  dared  to  do  for  years  before. 

During  the  first  four  days  I  lost  fifteen  pounds 
in  weight  —  something  which,  I  have  since 
learned,  was  a  sign  of  the  extremely  poor  state 
of  my  tissues.  Thereafter  I  lost  only  two  pounds 
in  eight  days  —  an  equally  unusual  phenomenon. 
I  slept  well  throughout  the  fast.  About  the 
middle  of  each  day  I  would  feel  weak,  but  a  mas- 
sage and  a  cold  shower  would  refresh  me. 
Towards  the  end  I  began  to  find  that  in  walking 
about  I  would  grow  tired  in  the  legs,  and  as  I 
did  not  wish  to  lie  in  bed  I  broke  the  fast  after 
the  twelfth  day  with  some  orange-juice. 

I  took  the  juice  of  a  dozen  oranges  during  two 
days,  and  then  went  on  the  milk  diet,  as  recom- 
mended by  Bernarr  Macfadden.  I  took  a  glassful 
of  warm  milk  every  hour  the  first  day,  every  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  the  next  day,  and  finally  every 
half-hour  —  or  eight  quarts  a  day.  This  is,  of 
course,  much  more  than  can  be  assimilated,  but 


22  THE   FASTING   CURE 

the  balance  serves  to  flush  the  system  out.  The 
tissues  are  bathed  in  nutriment,  and  an  extraor- 
dinary recuperation  is  experienced.  In  my  own 
case  I  gained  four  and  a  half  pounds  in  one  day 
—  the  third  —  and  gained  a  total  of  thirty-two 
pounds  in  twenty-four  days. 

My  sensations  on  this  milk  diet  were  almost  as 
interesting  as  on  the  fast.  In  the  first  place,  there 
was  an  extraordinary  sense  of  peace  and  calm,  as 
if  every  weary  nerve  in  the  body  were  purring  like 
a  cat  under  a  stove.  Next  there  was  the  keenest 
activity  of  mind  —  I  read  and  wrote  incessantly. 
And,  finally,  there  was  a  perfectly  ravenous  desire 
for  physical  work.  In  the  old  days  I  had  walked 
long  distances  and  climbed  mountains,  but  always 
with  reluctance  and  from  a  sense  of  compulsion. 
Now,  after  the  cleaning-out  of  the  fast,  I  would 
go  into  a  gymnasium  and  do  work  which  would 
literally  have  broken  my  back  before,  and  I  did  it 
with  intense  enjoyment,  and  with  amazing  results. 
The  muscles  fairly  leaped  out  upon  my  body;  I 
suddenly  discovered  the  possibility  of  becoming 
an  athlete.  I  had  always  been  lean  and  dyspeptic- 
looking,  with  what  my  friends  called  a  "  spirit- 
ual "  expression;  I  now  became  as  round  as  a 
butter-ball,  and  so  brown  and  rosy  in  the  face  that 
I  was  a  joke  to  all  who  saw  me. 

I  had  not  taken  what  is  called  a  "  complete  " 


PERFECT    HEALTH  23 

fast  —  that  is,  I  had  not  waited  until  hunger  re- 
turned. Therefore  I  began  again.  I  intended 
only  a  short  fast,  but  I  found  that  hunger  ceased 
again,  and,  much  to  my  surprise,  I  had  none  of 
the  former  weakness.  I  took  a  cold  bath  and  a 
vigorous  rub  twice  a  day;  I  walked  four  miles 
every  morning,  and  did  light  gymnasium  work, 
and  with  nothing  save  a  slight  tendency  to  chilli- 
ness to  let  me  know  that  I  was  fasting.  I  lost  nine 
pounds  in  eight  days,  and  then  went  for  a  week 
longer  on  oranges  and  figs,  and  made  up  most  of 
the  weight  on  these. 

I  shall  always  remember  with  amusement  the 
anxious  caution  with  which  I  now  began  to  taste 
the  various  foods  which  before  had  caused  me 
trouble.  Bananas,  acid  fruits,  peanut  butter  —  I 
tried  them  one  by  one,  and  then  in  combination, 
and  so  realized  with  a  thrill  of  exultation  that 
every  trace  of  my  old  trouble  was  gone.  For- 
merly I  had  had  to  lie  down  for  an  hour  or  two 
after  meals;  now  I  could  do  whatever  I  chose. 
Formerly  I  had  been  dependent  upon  all  kinds  of 
laxative  preparations;  now  I  forgot  about  them. 
I  no  longer  had  headaches.  I  went  bareheaded 
in  the  rain,  I  sat  in  cold  draughts  of  air,  and  was 
apparently  immune  to  colds.  And,  above  all,  I 
had  that  marvellous,  abounding  energy,  so  that 
whenever  I  had  a  spare  minute  or  two  I  would 


24  THE   FASTING   CURE 

begin  to  stand  on  my  head,  or  to  "  chin  "  myself, 
or  do  some  other  "  stunt,"  from  sheer  exuberance 
of  animal  spirits. 

For  several  months  after  this  experience  I  lived 
upon  a  diet  of  raw  foods  exclusively  —  mainly 
nuts  and  fruits.  I  had  been  led  to  regard  this  as 
the  natural  diet  for  human  beings;  and  I  found 
that  so  long  as  I  was  leading  an  active  life  the 
results  were  most  satisfactory.  They  were  satis- 
factory also  in  the  case  of  my  wife,  and  still  more 
so  in  the  case  of  my  little  boy;  the  amount  of 
work  and  bother  thus  saved  in  the  household  may 
be  imagined.  But  when  I  came  to  settle  down  to 
a  long  period  of  hard  and  continuous  writing,  I 
found  that  I  had  not  sufficient  bodily  energy  to 
digest  these  raw  foods.  I  resorted  to  fasting  and 
milk  alternately  —  and  that  is  well  enough  for 
a  time,  but  it  proves  a  nervous  strain  in  the  end. 
Recently  a  friend  called  my  attention  to  the  late 
Dr.  Salisbury's  book,  "  The  Relation  of  Alimen- 
tation to  Disease.',  Dr.  Salisbury  recommends  a 
diet  of  broiled  beef  and  hot  water  as  the  solution 
of  most  of  the  problems  of  the  human  body;  and 
it  may  be  believed  that  I,  who  had  been  a  rigid 
and  enthusiastic  vegetarian  for  three  or  four  years, 
found  this  a  startling  idea.  However,  I  make  a 
specialty  of  keeping  an  open  mind,  and  I  set  out 
to  try  the  Salisbury  system.     I  am  sorry  to  have 


PERFECT    HEALTH  25 

to  say  that  it  seems  to  be  a  good  one;  sorry,  be- 
cause the  vegetarian  way  of  life  is  so  obviously 
the  cleaner  and  more  humane  and  more  con- 
venient. But  it  seems  to  me  that  I  am  able  to  do 
more  work  and  harder  work  with  my  mind  while 
eating  beefsteaks  than  under  any  other  regime; 
and  while  this  continues  to  be  the  case  there  will 
be  one  less  vegetarian  in  the  world. 

The  fast  is  to  me  the  key  to  eternal  youth,  the 
secret  of  perfect  and  permanent  health.  I  would 
not  take  anything  in  all  the  world  for  my  knowl- 
edge of  it.  It  is  Nature's  safety-valve,  an  auto- 
matic protection  against  disease.  I  do  not  ven- 
ture to  assert  that  I  am  proof  against  virulent 
diseases,  such  as  smallpox  or  typhoid.  I  know 
one  ardent  physical  culturist,  a  physician,  who 
takes  typhoid  germs  at  intervals  in  order  to  prove 
his  immunity,  but  I  should  not  care  to  go  that  far; 
it  is  enough  for  me  to  know  that  I  am  proof 
against  all  the  common  infections  which  plague 
us,  and  against  all  the  "  chronic  "  troubles.  And 
I  shall  continue  so  just  as  long  as  I  stand  by  my 
present  resolve,  which  is  to  fast  at  the  slightest 
hint  of  any  symptom  of  ill-being  —  a  cold  or  a 
headache,  a  feeling  of  depression,  or  a  coated 
tongue,  or  a  scratch  on  the  finger  which  does  not 
heal  quickly. 

Those  who  have  made  a  study  of  the  fast  ex- 


26  THE   FASTING   CURE 

plain  its  miracles  in  the  following  way:  Super- 
fluous nutriment  is  taken  into  the  system  and 
ferments,  and  the  body  is  filled  with  a  greater 
quantity  of  poisonous  matter  than  the  organs  of 
elimination  can  handle.  The  result  is  the  clogging 
of  these  organs  and  of  the  blood-vessels  —  such  is 
the  meaning  of  headaches  and  rheumatism,  arteri- 
osclerosis, paralysis,  apoplexy,  Bright's  disease, 
cirrhosis,  etc.  And  by  impairing  the  blood  and 
lowering  the  vitality,  this  same  condition  prepares 
the  system  for  infection  —  for  "  colds,"  or  pneu- 
monia, or  tuberculosis,  or  any  of  the  fevers.  As 
soon  as  the  fast  begins,  and  the  first  hunger  has 
been  withstood,  the  secretions  cease,  and  the 
whole  assimilative  system,  which  takes  so  much 
of  the  energies  of  the  body,  goes  out  of  business. 
The  body  then  begins  a  sort  of  house-cleaning, 
which  must  be  helped  by  an  enema  and  a  bath 
daily,  and,  above  all,  by  copious  water-drinking. 
The  tongue  becomes  coated,  the  breath  and  the 
perspiration  offensive;  and  this  continues  until  the 
diseased  matter  has  been  entirely  cast  out,  when 
the  tongue  clears  and  hunger  reasserts  itself  in 
unmistakable  form. 

The  loss  of  weight  during  the  fast  is  generally 
about  a  pound  a  day.  The  fat  is  used  first,  and 
after  that  the  muscular  tissue;  true  starvation 
begins  only  when  the  body  has  been  reduced  to 


PERFECT    HEALTH  27 

the  skeleton  and  the  viscera.  Fasts  of  forty  and 
fifty  days  are  now  quite  common  —  I  have  met 
several  who  have  taken  them. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  fast  is  a  cure  for 
both  emaciation  and  obesity.  After  a  complete 
fast  the  body  will  come  to  its  ideal  weight. 
People  who  are  very  stout  will  not  regain  their 
weight;  while  people  who  are  under  weight  may 
gain  a  pound  or  more  a  day  for  a  month.  There 
are  two  dangers  to  be  feared  in  fasting.  The  first 
is  that  of  fear.  I  do  not  say  this  as  a  jest.  No 
one  should  begin  to  fast  until  he  has  read  up  on 
the  subject  and  convinced  himself  that  it  is  the 
thing  to  do;  if  possible  he  should  have  with  him 
someone  who  has  already  had  the  experience. 
He  should  not  have  about  him  terrified  aunts  and 
cousins  who  will  tell  him  that  he  looks  like  a 
corpse,  that  his  pulse  is  below  forty,  and  that  his 
heart  may  stop  beating  in  the  night.  I  took  a  fast 
of  three  days  out  in  California;  on  the  third  day 
I  walked  about  fifteen  miles,  off  and  on,  and,  ex- 
cept that  I  was  restless,  I  never  felt  better.  And 
then  in  the  evening  I  came  home  and  read  about 
the  Messina  earthquake,  and  how  the  relief  ships 
arrived,  and  the  wretched  survivors  crowded 
down  to  the  water's  edge  and  tore  each  other  like 
wild  beasts  in  their  rage  of  hunger.  The  paper 
set  forth,  in  horrified  language,  that  some  of  them 


28  THE   FASTING    CURE 

had  been  seventy-two  hours  without  food.  I,  as 
I  read,  had  also  been  seventy-two  hours  without 
food;  and  the  difference  was  simply  that  they 
thought  they  were  starving.  And  if  at  some  crisis 
during  a  long  fast,  when  you  feel  nervous  and 
weak  and  doubting,  some  people  with  stronger 
wills  than  your  own  are  able  to  arouse  in  you  the 
terrors  of  the  earthquake  survivors,  they  can  cause 
their  most  direful  anticipations  to  be  realized. 

The  other  danger  is  in  breaking  the  fast.  A 
person  breaking  a  long  fast  should  regard  himself 
as  if  he  were  liable  to  seizures  of  violent  insanity. 
I  know  a  man  who  fasted  fifty  days,  and  then  ate 
half  a  dozen  figs,  and  caused  intestinal  abrasions 
from  which  he  lost  a  great  deal  of  blood.  I 
would  dwell  more  upon  this  topic  were  it  not  for 
my  discovery  of  the  "  milk  diet."  When  you 
drink  a  glass  of  milk  every  half-hour  you  have  no 
chance  to  get  really  hungry,  and  so  you  glide,  as  if 
by  magic,  from  a  condition  of  extreme  emaciation 
to  one  of  blooming  rotundity.  But  very  fre- 
quently the  milk  diet  disagrees  with  people;  and 
these  have  to  break  the  fast  with  very  small  quan- 
tities of  the  simplest  foods  —  fruit  juices  and 
meat  broths  for  the  first  two  or  three  days  at 
least. 

I  will  conclude  this  chapter  by  narrating  the  ex- 
periences of  some  other  persons  with  the  fasting 


PERFECT   HEALTH  2$ 

cure.  With  the  exception  of  one,  the  second  case, 
they  are  all  people  whom  I  know  personally,  and 
who  have  told  me  their  stories  with  their  own  lips. 

First,  I  give  the  case  of  my  wife.  She  has 
always  been  frail,  and  subject  to  sore  throats  since 
girlhood.  In  the  past  five  years  she  has  under- 
gone three  major  surgical  operations  and  had  sev- 
eral serious  illnesses  besides.  Two  years  ago  she 
had  a  severe  attack  of  appendicitis.  The  physi- 
cian made  a  wrong  diagnosis,  and  kept  her  alive 
for  about  ten  days  with  morphine.  She  was  then 
too  low  to  risk  an  operation,  and  was  not  expected 
to  live.  It  was  several  months  before  she  was 
able  to  walk  again,  and  she  had  never  fully  recov- 
ered from  the  experience.  When  she  began 
the  fast  she  was  suffering  from  serious  stomach 
trouble,  loss  of  weight,  and  neurasthenia. 

I  did  not  think  that  she  would  be  able  to  stand 
a  fast.  She  had  more  trouble  than  I  —  some 
nervousness,  headache  and  nausea.  But  she  stood 
it  for  ten  days,  when  her  tongue  cleared  suddenly. 
She  had  lost  twelve  pounds,  and  she  then  gained 
twenty-two  pounds  in  seventeen  days.  She  then 
took  another  fast  of  six  days  with  me,  and  with 
no  more  trouble  than  I  experienced  the  second 
time  —  walking  four  miles  every  morning  with 
me.  She  is  now  a  picture  of  health,  and  is  en- 
gaged in  accumulating  muscle  with  enthusiasm. 


30  THE   FASTING   CURE 

Second,  a  man  well  on  in  life,  who  had  always 
abused  his  health.  He  suffered  from  asthma  and 
dropsy,  and  was  saturated  with  drugs.  He  had 
not  been  able  to  lie  down  for  several  years.  He 
weighed  over  220  pounds,  and  his  legs  were  "  like 
sacks  of  water,  leaking  continually."  His  kidneys 
had  refused  to  act,  and  after  his  doctors  had  tried 
all  the  drugs  they  knew,  he  was  told  that  he  was 
dying.  His  brother,  who  narrated  the  circum- 
stances to  me,  persuaded  him  not  to  eat  the  supper 
that  was  brought  in  to  him,  and  so  he  lived 
through  the  night.  He  fasted  seven  days,  and 
went  for  four  weeks  longer  on  a  very  light  diet, 
and  is  now  chopping  wood  and  pitching  hay  upon 
his  farm  in  Kentucky. 

Third,  a  young  physician,  as  a  college  boy  a 
physical  wreck  from  dissipation,  now  twenty-four. 
"  A  born  neurastheniac."  He  was  attacked  by 
appendicitis  twice  in  succession.  He  fasted  five 
days  after  the  last  attack,  and  six  days  later  on. 
Gained  thirty-five  pounds,  and  is  a  splendidly 
developed  athlete;  he  runs  five  miles  in  26  min- 
utes 15  seconds,  and  rode  a  wheel  500  miles  in 
seven  days. 

Fourth,  a  young  lady,  who  had  suffered  a  ner- 
vous collapse  caused  by  overwork  and  worry. 
The  bones  of  her  spine  had  softened;  her  hip- 
bones tilted  upwards  three-quarters  of  an  inch; 


PERFECT    HEALTH  3 1 

she  was  "  barely  able  to  crawl  on  two  sticks." 
She  fasted  ten  days,  and  again  eight  days,  and 
took  the  milk  diet  for  six  weeks.  I  have  seen  her 
every  day  for  the  last  eight  or  ten  weeks,  and  I  do 
not  think  that  I  ever  met  a  woman  who  impressed 
me  as  possessing  more  superabundant  and  radiant 
health. 

Fifth,  a  young  man,  injured  in  a  railroad  wreck; 
a  rib  broken  and  the  outer  lining  of  the  lungs 
punctured.  Still  has  an  opening  for  drainage, 
caused  by  chafing  of  the  membranes.  Suffered  in 
succession  attacks  of  bronchitis,  typhoid,  pneu- 
monia and  pleurisy.  Was  reduced  from  186  to 
119  pounds,  and  had  planned  to  take  his  life. 
Fasted  six  days,  gained  twenty-seven  pounds,  and 
plays  tennis  vigorously,  in  spite  of  having  an 
opening  in  his  chest.  Recently  walked  442  miles 
in  eleven  days. 

Sixth,  a  lady,  married,  and  in  middle  life,  a 
life-long  sufferer  from  stomach  trouble;  had  ex- 
perienced six  attacks  of  inflammatory  rheumatism, 
resulting  in  valvular  heart  disease  and  the  loss  of 
the  use  of  her  limbs.  Fasted  four  times  —  four, 
eight,  twenty-eight,  and  fourteen  days.  I  can 
best  describe  her  present  condition  by  saying  that 
all  this  summer  she  arose  every  morning  at  day- 
break, walked  four  and  a  half  miles,  went  for  a 
swim,  and  then  walked  home  for  breakfast. 


32  THE   FASTING   CURE 

Seventh,  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  who  had  suf- 
fered almost  all  his  life  from  indigestion;  had  an 
acute  attack  of  gastritis,  followed  by  nervous 
prostration  and  complete  breakdown.  Specialists 
had  diagnosed  his  case  as  "  prolapsed  stomach 
and  bowels,  autointoxication  and  neurasthenia, " 
and  told  him  that  he  could  not  expect  to  get  well 
in  less  than  five  years.  He  was  so  emaciated  that 
he  could  hardly  creep  around,  and,  despite  the 
fact  that  he  had  a  wife  and  six  children,  was  con- 
templating suicide.  He  fasted  eleven  days,  and 
then  gained  thirty  pounds.  I  am  prepared  to 
testify  that  he  is  the  most  hard-working,  cheerful 
and  athletic  clergyman  it  has  ever  been  my  fortune 
to  meet. 

I  have  taken  some  trouble  to  investigate  the 
subject  of  the  fast,  and  to  meet  people  who  have 
been  through  the  experience.  I  could  give  a 
dozen  more  cases  such  as  the  above  if  space  per- 
mitted. I  know  one  man  who  reduced  his  weight 
from  36$  pounds  to  235.  I  know  one  little  girl 
whose  spine  was  bent  in  the  shape  of  a  letter  U 
lying  sideways,  and  who,  by  means  of  fasting  and 
a  diet  of  fruits  exclusively,  has  come  four  inches 
nearer  to  straightness  in  a  few  months.  She  has 
the  complexion  of  perfect  health,  and  is  rapidly 
recovering  the  use  of  arms  and  legs,  which  were 
paralyzed  years  ago. 


PERFECT   HEALTH  33 

The  reader  may  think  that  my  enthusiasm  over 
the  fasting  cure  is  due  to  my  imaginative  temper- 
ament; I  can  only  say  that  I  have  never  yet  met 
a  person  who  has  given  the  fast  a  fair  trial  who 
does  not  describe  his  experience  in  the  same  way. 
I  have  never  heard  of  any  harm  resulting  from  it, 
save  only  in  cases  of  tuberculosis,  in  which  I  have 
been  told  by  one  physician  that  people  have  lost 
weight  and  not  regained  it. 

I  regard  the  fast  as  Nature's  own  remedy  for 
all  other  diseases.  It  is  the  only  remedy  which  is 
based  upon  an  understanding  of  the  fundamental 
nature  of  disease.  And  I  believe  that  when  the 
glad  tidings  of  its  miracles  have  reached  the 
people  it  will  lead  to  the  throwing  of  90  per  cent 
of  our  present  materia  medica  into  the  waste- 
basket.  This  may  be  unwelcome  to  those  physi- 
cians who  are  more  concerned  with  their  own 
income  than  they  are  with  the  health  of  their  pa- 
tients; but  I  personally  have  never  met  any  such 
physicians,  and  so  I  most  earnestly  urge  it  upon 
medical  men  to  investigate  the  extraordinary  and 
almost  incredible  facts  about  the  fasting  cure. 
•  •••••« 

Shortly  after  the  above  was  completed  the 
writer  had  another  interesting  experience  with 
the  fast.  He  had  occasion  to  do  some  work  which 
kept  him  indoors  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  under  con- 


34  THE   FASTING   CURE 

siderable  strain;  and  after  that  to  spend  the 
greater  part  of  a  week  in  the  dentist's  chair  suffer- 
ing a  good  deal  of  pain ;  and  finally  to  spend  two 
days  and  nights  in  a  railroad  train.  He  arrived 
at  his  destination  with  every  symptom  of  what 
long  and  painful  experience  has  taught  him  to  rec- 
ognize as  a  severe  attack  of  the  "  grippe."  (The 
last  attack  laid  him  up  in  hospital  for  a  week,  and 
left  him  so  reduced  that  he  could  hardly  stand.) 
On  this  occasion  he  fasted,  and  although  circum- 
stances compelled  him  to  be  up  and  about  during 
the  entire  time,  every  trace  of  ill-feeling  had  left 
him  in  two  days.  Having  started,  however,  he 
continued  the  fast  for  twelve  days.  During  this 
time  he  planned  a  play,  and  wrote  two-thirds  of  it, 
and  he  has  reason  to  think  that  it  is  as  good  work 
as  he  has  ever  done.  It  is  worth  noting  that  on 
the  eighth  day  he  was  strong  enough  to  "  chin  " 
himself  six  times  in  succession,  though  previous  to 
the  fasting  treatment  he  had  never  in  his  life  been 
able  to  do  this  more  than  once  or  twice. 

A  Letter  to  the  New  York  Times 

(unfit  to  print) 

Arden,  Del.,  May  31,  1910. 
Editor  of  the  Times,  New  York  City, 

Dear  Sir,  —  Some  time  ago  your  news  col- 
umns contained  a  despatch  to  the  effect  that  three 


PERFECT   HEALTH  35 

young  ladies  in  Garden  City,  Long  Island,  were 
undertaking  a  three  days'  fast  as  a  result  of  read- 
ing a  magazine  article  recommending  this  meas- 
ure. In  your  editorial  referring  to  this  despatch, 
you  say  that  the  ladies  are  "  the  victims  of  a  shal- 
low and  unscrupulous  sensationalist."  As  I  am 
the  writer  of  the  magazine  article  in  question,  I 
presume  that  this  means  me.  I  did  not  intend  to 
make  any  reply  to  the  remark,  as  I  figure  that  I 
must  have  long  ago  lost  whatever  reputation 
could  be  taken  from  me  by  newspaper  comments. 
Thinking  the  matter  over,  however,  I  concluded 
that  I  would  venture  a  mild  protest,  not  on  my 
own  account,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  important  dis- 
covery of  which  I  told  in  the  article  in  question. 

It  is  one  of  the  privileges  incidental  to  owning 
a  newspaper  that  one  can  call  other  people  names 
with  impunity,  and  can  always  have  the  last  word 
in  any  argument.  Will,  however,  your  sense  of 
fair  play  give  me  the  privilege  of  asking  you  to 
state  just  what  you  meant  by  the  slur  in  question? 
In  the  magazine  article  I  stated  that  I  had  taken 
several  fasts  of  ten  or  twelve  days'  duration,  with 
the  result  of  a  complete  making  over  of  my  health. 
I  presume  that  the  writer  of  the  editorial  had  read 
the  article  before  he  condemned  it.  Am  I  to 
understand  that  he  got  from  the  article  the  im- 
pression that  I  was  telling  lies,  and  that  I  had 
never  really  taken  the  fasts  as  I  said  I  had  taken 
them?  Or  was  it  his  idea  that  I  exaggerated  the 
benefits  derived  therefrom,  in  order  to  make 
"  victims  "  of  the  three  young  ladies  in  Garden 
City? 


36  THE   FASTING   CURE 

I  might  say  that  I  took  the  fasts  in  question 
in  an  institution  where  hundreds  of  people  were 
fasting  anywhere  from  three  to  fifty  days;  that 
during  the  entire  time  I  was  under  the  observa- 
tion of  many  people;  my  weight  was  taken  reg- 
ularly every  day,  and  all  the  symptoms  which  I 
described  were  observed  by  physicians  and  friends. 
May  I  also  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  I  pub- 
lished in  the  article  two  photographs,  one  of  which 
was  taken  four  years  ago,  and  the  other  of  which 
was  taken  after  the  fasting  treatment?  The  con- 
trast between  these  two  photographs  was  suffi- 
ciently striking,  it  seems  to  me,  to  impress  anyone. 
May  I  also  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  article 
was  found  of  sufficient  interest  to  be  published  in 
one  of  the  most  representative  of  the  English 
monthlies,  the  Contemporary  Review?  Also  that 
the  Contemporary  Review  appended  to  the  article 
the  testimony  of  half  a  dozen  people  whose  cases 
I  had  myself  observed,  and  whose  letters  I  have  in 
my  possession? 

I  fully  recognize  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
things  for  which  I  stand  as  a  writer  are  abhorrent 
to  you,  but  surely  that  is  no  reason  for  condemning 
recklessly  and  blindly  an  important  discovery  con- 
cerning human  health,  simply  because  I  happen  to 
be  the  person  who  is  telling  about  it.  Setting  aside 
all  personalities,  and  simply  in  the  interest  of  the 
discovery  in  question,  I  respectfully  invite  you  to 
make  an  investigation  of  the  claims  which  I  have 
set  forth  in  that  article.  Let  me  give  you  the 
names  of  some  people  who  have  fasted  either 
under  my  direction  or  in  my  presence,  and  who 


PERFECT    HEALTH  37 

will  tell  a  representative  of  your  paper  of  the  re- 
sults it  has  brought  to  them.  I  can  tell  you  of  a 
dozen  such  people.  Also,  perhaps  by  way  of  pre- 
liminary, you  might  be  willing  to  publish  as  an 
appendix  to  this  letter  of  mine  the  communication 
from  another  of  my  "  victims,"  omitting  the  name 
of  the  writer  unless  you  obtain  permission  to 
use  it. 

Yours  truly, 

Upton  Sinclair. 

Appended  to  the  above  was  the  letter  which  the 
reader  will  find  in  the  Appendix,  page  in.  The 
Times  did  not  publish  this  letter,  nor  did  it  pay 
any  attention  to  several  letters  of  protest  which 
followed.  I  leave  it  to  the  reader  to  judge  whether 
the  silence  of  the  paper  was  one  of  dignity  or 
of  fear.  The  following  despatch  from  the  New 
York  World  of  May  17,  19 10,  records  the  ex- 
periences of  the  Garden  City  ladies,  and  makes 
clear  how  much  in  need  of  sympathy  my  "  vic- 
tims "  were. 

All  three  of  the  young  women  are  in  rare  spirits. 
They  have  gone  about  their  usual  occupations  and 
recreations,  and  Mrs.  Trask  found  time  yesterday 
to  talk  about  the  single  tax  in  the  course  of  a  con- 
versation that  had  to  do  primarily  with  her  newer 
interest. 

11  We  are  getting  the  most  extraordinary  num- 
ber of  letters  about  this  adventure  of  ours,"  Mrs. 


38  THE   FASTING   CURE 

Trask  said.  "  They  began  to  come  the  first  day, 
and  to-day  there  were  lots  of  them.  They  come 
from  some  of  the  most  unexpected  places  and  they 
contain  some  of  the  most  unexpected  things. 

44  What  most  astonishes  me  is  that  of  all  those 
who  write  to  tell  us  that  they  have  tried  just  what 
we  are  doing,  not  one  has  told  us  of  a  failure. 
There  is  n't  any  reason  why  they  should  n't  write 
to  say  that  we  are  foolish  and  that  we  can't  hope 
to  gain  what  we  want,  but  dozens  of  them  have 
reiterated  the  promise  that  we  '11  never  regret  hav- 
ing made  our  experiment. 

One  New  York  woman  told  us  something  that 
we  had  wondered  about  more  than  once.  Her 
husband  had  suffered  greatly  from  rheumatism, 
and  finally  he  tried  fasting.  Not  dieting  like  our- 
selves, but  fasting.  He  went  without  food  of  any 
kind,  she  said,  for  nineteen  days.  He  kept  on  at 
his  work,  too,  which  was  the  thing  we  had  been 
wondering  about. 

14  We  've  heard  from  another  physician,  too. 
He  lives  in  Boston  and  has  made  a  specialty  of 
dietetics.  He  warned  us  not  to  stick  too  closely 
to  milk,  because  we  'd  find  that  after  a  day  or  two 
it  would  quit  being  of  the  service  it  had  been  at 
first.  People  we  never  heard  of  tell  us  that  thus 
and  so  was  their  experience,  and  when  we  measure 
our  own  discoveries  beside  theirs  we  find  new  and 
convincing  evidence  that  we  picked  the  true  way  to 
the  end  we  hoped  to  reach. 

44 1  know  that  for  myself  I  '11  have  reason  to  be 
grateful  always  that  I  took  this  up.  We  have  been 
greatly  benefited." 


SOME    NOTES   ON   FASTING  39 


SOME    NOTES   ON    FASTING 

In  relation  to  the  article,  "  Perfect  Health,"  I 
received  some  six  or  eight  hundred  letters  from 
people  who  either  had  fasted,  or  desired  to  fast 
and  sought  for  further  information.  The  letters 
showed  a  general  uniformity  which  made  clear  to 
me  that  I  had  not  been  sufficiently  explicit  upon 
several  important  points. 

The  question  most  commonly  asked  was  how 
long  should  one  fast,  and  how  one  should  judge  of 
the  time  to  stop.  I  personally  have  never  taken 
a  "  complete  fast,"  and  so  I  hesitate  in  recom- 
mending this  to  any  one.  I  have  fasted  twelve 
days  on  two  occasions.  In  both  cases  I  broke  my 
fast  because  I  found  myself  feeling  weak  and  I 
wanted  to  be  about  a  good  deal.  In  neither  case 
was  I  hungry,  although  hunger  quickly  returned. 
I  was  told  by  Bernarr  Macfadden,  and  by  some 
of  his  physicians,  that  they  got  their  best  results 
from  fasts  of  this  length.  I  would  not  advise  a 
longer  fast  for  any  of  the  commoner  ailments, 
such  as  stomach  and  intestinal  trouble,  headaches, 
constipation,  colds  and  sore  throat.    Longer  fasts, 


40  THE   FASTING   CURE 

it  seems  to  me,  are  for  those  who  have  really  des- 
perate ailments,  such  deeply-rooted  chronic  dis- 
eases as  Bright's  disease,  cirrhosis  of  the  liver, 
rheumatism  and  cancer. 

Of  course  if  a  person  has  started  on  a  fast  and 
it  is  giving  him  no  trouble,  there  is  no  reason  why 
it  should  not  be  continued;  but  I  do  not  in  the 
least  believe  in  a  man's  setting  before  himself  the 
goal  of  a  forty  or  fifty  days'  fast  and  making  a 
"  stunt  "  out  of  it.  I  do  not  think  of  the  fast  as  a 
thing  to  be  played  with  in  that  way.  I  do  not 
believe  in  fasting  for  the  fun  of  it,  or  out  of  curi- 
osity. I  do  not  advise  people  to  fast  who  have 
nothing  the  matter  with  them,  and  I  do  not  advise 
the  fast  as  a  periodical  or  habitual  thing.  A  man 
who  has  to  fast  every  now  and  then  is  like  a  per- 
son who  should  spend  his  time  in  sweeping  rain 
water  out  of  his  house,  instead  of  taking  the 
trouble  to  repair  his  roof.  If  you  have  to  fast 
every  now  and  then,  it  is  because  the  habits  of 
your  life  are  wrong,  more  especially  because  you 
are  eating  unwholesome  foods.  There  were 
several  people  who  wrote  me  asking  about  a 
fast,  to  whom  my  reply  was  that  they  should 
simply  adopt  a  rational  diet ;  that  I  believed  their 
troubles  would  all  disappear  without  the  need  of 
a  fast. 

Several  people  asked  me  if  it  would  not  be  better 


SOME   NOTES   ON   FASTING  4 1 

for  them  to  eat  very  lightly  instead  of  fasting,  or 
to  content  themselves  with  fasts  of  two  or  three 
days  at  frequent  intervals.  My  reply  to  that  is 
that  I  find  it  very  much  harder  to  do  that,  because 
all  the  trouble  in  the  fast  occurs  during  the  first 
two  or  three  days.  It  is  during  those  days  that 
you  are  hungry,  and  if  you  begin  to  eat  just  when 
your  hunger  is  ceasing,  you  have  wasted  all  your 
efforts.  In  the  same  way,  perhaps,  it  might  be  a 
good  thing  to  eat  very  lightly  of  fruit,  instead 
of  taking  an  absolute  fast  —  the  only  trouble 
is  that  I  cannot  do  it.  Again  and  again  I  have 
tried,  but  always  with  the  same  result:  the  light 
meals  are  just  enough  to  keep  me  ravenously 
hungry,  and  inevitably  I  find  myself  eating  more 
and  more.  And  it  does  me  no  good  to  call  myself 
names  about  this,  I  just  do  it,  and  keep  on  doing 
it;  I  have  finally  made  up  my  mind  that  it  is  a 
fact  of  my  nature.  I  used  to  try  these  "  fruit 
fasts  "  under  Dr.  Kellogg's  advice.  I  could  live 
on  nothing  but  fruit  for  several  days,  but  I  would 
get  so  weak  that  I  could  not  stand  up  —  far 
weaker  than  I  have  ever  become  on  an  out-and- 
out  fast. 

One  should  drink  all  the  water  he  possibly  can 
while  fasting,  only  not  taking  too  much  at  a  time. 
I  take  a  glass  full  every  hour,  at  least;  sometimes 
every  half  hour.    It  is  a  good  plan  to  drink  a  great 


42  THE   FASTING   CURE 

deal  of  water  at  the  outset,  whenever  meal  time 
comes  around,  and  one  thinks  of  the  other  folks 
beginning  to  eat.  I  drink  the  water  cold,  because 
it  is  less  trouble,  but  if  there  is  any  hot  water 
about,  I  prefer  that.  Hot  water  between  meals 
is  an  immensely  valuable  suggestion  which  I  owe 
to  Dr.  Salisbury. 

One  should  take  a  bath  every  day  while  fasting. 
I  prefer  a  warm  bath  followed  by  a  cold  shower. 
Also  one  should  take  a  small  enema.  I  find  a 
pint  of  cool  water  sufficient.  I  received  several 
letters  from  people  who  were  greatly  disturbed 
because  of  constipation  during  the  fast.  People 
apparently  do  not  realize  that  while  fasting  there 
is  very  little  to  be  eliminated  from  the  body.  (Of 
course,  there  are  cases,  especially  of  people  who 
have  suffered  from  long  continued  intestinal 
trouble,  in  which  even  after  three  or  four  weeks 
the  enema  continues  to  bring  away  quantities  of 
dried  and  impacted  faeces.) 

Many  of  the  questions  asked  dealt  with  the 
manner  of  breaking  the  fast;  I  suppose  because 
I  had  been  particular  to  warn  my  readers  that  this 
was  the  one  danger  point  in  the  proceeding.  I 
told  of  my  experience  with  the  milk  diet,  and  I 
received  many  inquiries  about  this.  My  answer 
was  to  refer  the  writers  to  Bernarr  Macfadden's 
pamphlet  on  the  milk  diet,  as  I  took  this  diet  under 


SOME    NOTES   ON   FASTING  43 

his  direction  and  have  nothing  to  add  to  his  in- 
structions. I  might  say,  however,  that  I  was 
never  able  to  take  the  milk  diet  for  any  length  of 
time  but  once,  and  that  after  my  first  twelve-day 
fast.  After  my  second  fast  it  seemed  to  go  wrong 
with  me,  and  I  think  the  reason  was  that  I  did  not 
begin  it  until  a  week  after  breaking  the  fast,  hav- 
ing got  along  on  orange  juice  and  figs  in  the  mean- 
time. Also  I  tried  on  many  occasions  to  take  the 
milk  diet  after  a  short  fast  of  three  or  four  days, 
and  always  the  milk  has  disagreed  with  me  and 
poisoned  me.  I  take  this  to  mean  that,  in  my  own 
case,  at  any  rate,  so  much  milk  can  only  be  ab- 
sorbed when  the  tissues  are  greatly  reduced;  and 
I  have  known  others  who  have  had  the  same 
experience. 

While  I  was  down  in  Alabama,  I  took  a  twelve- 
day  fast,  and  at  the  end  I  was  tempted  by  a  deli- 
cious large  Japanese  persimmon,  which  had  been 
eyeing  me  from  the  pantry  shelf  during  the  whole 
twelve  days.  I  ate  that  persimmon  —  and  I  men- 
tion that  it  was  thoroughly  ripe ;  in  spite  of  which 
fact  it  doubled  me  up  with  the  most  alarming 
cramp  —  and  in  consequence  I  do  not  recommend 
persimmons  for  fasters.  I  know  a  friend  who  had 
a  similar  experience  from  the  juice  of  one  orange; 
but  he  was  a  man  with  whom  acid  fruit  has  always 
disagreed.     I  know  another  man  who  broke  his 


44  THE   FASTING   CURE 

fast  on  a  Hamburg  steak;  and  this  also  is  not  to 
be  recommended. 

It  has  been  my  experience  that  immediately 
after  a  fast  the  stomach  is  very  weak,  and  can 
easily  be  upset;  also  the  peristaltic  muscles  are 
practically  without  power.  It  is,  therefore,  im- 
portant to  choose  foods  which  are  readily  di- 
gested, and  also  to  continue  to  take  the  enema 
daily  until  the  muscles  have  been  sufficiently  built 
up  to  make  a  natural  movement  possible.  The 
thing  to  do  is  to  take  orange  juice  or  grape  juice 
in  small  quantities  for  two  or  three  days,  and  then 
go  gradually  upon  the  milk  diet,  beginning  with 
half  a  glass  of  warm  milk  at  a  time.  If  the  milk 
does  not  agree  with  you,  you  may  begin  carefully 
to  add  baked  potatoes  and  rice  and  gruels  and 
broths,  if  you  must;  but  don't  forget  the  enema. 

People  ask  me  in  what  diseases  I  recommend 
fasting.  I  recommend  it  for  all  diseases  of  which 
I  have  ever  heard,  with  the  exception  of  one  in 
which  I  have  heard  of  bad  results  —  tubercu- 
losis. Dr.  Hazzard,  in  her  book,  reports  a  case 
of  the  cure  of  this  disease,  but  Mr.  Macfadden 
tells  me  that  he  has  known  of  several  cases  of 
people  who  have  lost  their  weight  and  have  not 
regained  it.  There  is  one  cure  quoted  in  the  ap- 
pendix to  this  volume. 

The  diseases  for  which  fasting  is  most  obvi- 


SOME   NOTES  ON   FASTING  45 

ously  to  be  recommended  are  all  those  of  the 
stomach  and  intestines,  which  any  one  can  see  are 
directly  caused  by  the  presence  of  fermenting  and 
putrefying  food  in  the  system.  Next  come  all 
those  complaints  which  are  caused  by  the  poisons 
derived  from  these  foods  in  the  blood  and  the 
eliminative  organs :  such  are  headaches  and  rheu- 
matism, liver  and  kidney  troubles,  and  of  course 
all  skin  diseases.  Finally,  there  are  the  fevers 
and  infectious  diseases,  which  are  caused  by  the 
invasion  of  the  organism  by  foreign  bacteria, 
which  are  enabled  to  secure  a  lodgment  because 
of  the  weakened  and  impure  condition  of  the 
blood-stream.  Such  are  the  "  colds  "  and  fevers. 
In  these  latter  cases  nature  tries  to  save  us,  for 
there  is  immediately  experienced  a  disinclination 
on  the  part  of  the  sick  person  to  take  any  sort  of 
food;  and  there  is  no  telling  how  many  people 
have  been  hurried  out  of  life  in  a  few  days  or 
hours,  because  ignorant  relatives,  nurses  and  phy- 
sicians have  gathered  at  their  bedside  and  im- 
plored them  to  eat.  I  can  look  back  upon  a  time 
in  my  own  experience  when  my  wife  was  in  the 
hospital  with  a  slow  fever;  they  would  bring 
her  up  three  square  meals  a  day,  consisting  of 
lamb  chops,  poached  eggs  on  toast,  cooked  vege- 
tables, preserves  and  desserts;  and  the  physician 
would  stand  by  her  bedside  and  say,  in  sepulchral 
tones,  "  If  you  do  not  eat,  you  will  die!  " 


46  THE   FASTING   CURE 

My  friend,  Mr.  Arthur  Brisbane,  wrote  me  a 
gravely  disapproving  letter  when  he  read  that  I 
was  fasting.  I  had  a  long  correspondence  with 
him,  at  the  end  of  which  he  acknowledged  that 
there  "  might  be  something  in  it."  "  Even  dogs 
fast  when  they  are  ill,"  he  wrote;  and  I  replied, 
11 1  look  forward  to  the  time  when  human  beings 
may  be  as  wise  as  dogs."  I  read  the  other  day 
an  amusing  story  of  a  man  who  made  himself  a 
reputation  for  curing  the  diseases  of  the  pam- 
pered pets  of  our  rich  society  ladies.  They  would 
bring  him  their  overfed  dogs,  and  he  would  shut 
them  up  in  an  old  brick-kiln,  with  a  tub  of  water, 
and  leave  them  there  to  howl  until  they  were 
hoarse.  In  addition  to  the  water  he  would  put 
in  each  cell  a  hunk  of  stale  bread,  a  piece  of  bacon 
rind,  and  an  old  boot.  He  would  go  back  at  the 
end  of  a  few  days,  and  if  the  bread  was  eaten  he 
would  write  to  the  fond  owner  that  the  dog's 
recovery  was  assured.  He  would  go  back  in  a 
few  more  days,  and  if  the  bacon  rind  was  eaten 
would  write  that  the  dog  was  nearly  well.  And 
at  the  end  of  another  week,  he  would  go  back, 
and  if  the  old  boot  was  eaten  he  would  write  to 
the  owner  that  the  dog  was  now  completely  re- 
stored to  health. 

Several  people  wrote  me  who  were  in  the  last 
stages   of    some    desperate    disease.      Of   course 


SOME    NOTES   ON   FASTING  47 

they  had  always  been  consulting  with  physicians, 
and  the  physicians  had  told  them  that  my  article 
was  "pure  nonsense";  and  they  would  write 
me  that  they  would  like  to  try  to  fast,  but  that 
they  were  "  too  weak  and  too  far  gone  to  stand 
it."  There  is  no  greater  delusion  than  that  a 
person  needs  strength  to  fast.  The  weaker  you 
are  from  disease,  the  more  certain  it  is  that  you 
need  to  fast,  the  more  certain  it  is  that  your  body 
has  not  strength  enough  to  digest  the  food  you 
are  taking  into  it.  If  you  fast  under  those  circum- 
stances, you  will  grow  not  weaker,  but  stronger. 
In  fact,  my  experience  seems  to  indicate  that  the 
people  who  have  the  least  trouble  on  the  fast  are 
the  people  who  are  most  in  need  of  it.  The  sys- 
tem which  has  been  exhausted  by  the  efforts  to 
digest  the  foods  that  are  piled  into  it,  simply  lies 
down  with  a  sigh  of  relief  and  goes  to  sleep. 

The  fast  is  Nature's  remedy  for  all  diseases, 
and  there  are  few  exceptions  to  the  rule.  When 
you  feel  sick,  fast.  Do  not  wait  until  the  next 
day,  when  you  will  feel  stronger,  nor  till  the 
next  week,  when  you  are  going  away  into  the 
country,  but  stop  eating  at  once.  Many  of  the 
people  who  wrote  to  me  were  victims  of  our  sys- 
tem of  wage  slavery,  who  wrote  me  that  they  were 
ill,  but  could  not  get  even  a  few  days'  release  in 
which  to  fast.    They  wanted  to  know  if  they  could 


48  THE   FASTING   CURE 

fast  and  at  the  same  time  continue  their  work. 
Many  can  do  this,  especially  if  the  work  is  of  a 
clerical  or  routine  sort.  On  my  first  fast  I  could 
not  have  done  any  work,  because  I  was  too  weak. 
But  on  my  second  fast  I  could  have  done  anything 
except  very  severe  physical  labor.  I  have  one 
friend  who  fasted  eight  days  for  the  first  time, 
and  who  did  all  her  own  housework  and  put  up 
several  gallons  of  preserves  on  the  last  day.  I 
have  received  letters  from  a  couple  of  women  who 
have  fasted  ten  or  twelve  days,  and  have  done  all 
their  own  work.  I  know  of  one  case  of  a  young 
girl  who  fasted  thirty-three  days  and  worked  all 
the  time  at  a  sanatorium,  and  on  the  twenty-fourth 
day  she  walked  twenty  miles. 

Fasting  and  the  Doctors 

A  most  discouraging  circumstance  to  me  was 
the  attitude  of  physicians,  as  revealed  in  the  corre- 
spondence that  came  to  me.  Mostly  I  learned  of 
this  attitude  from  the  letters  of  patients  who 
quoted  their  physicians  to  me.  From  the  physi- 
cians themselves  I  heard  practically  nothing.  We 
have  some  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  reg- 
ularly graduated  "  medical  men  "  in  this  country, 
and  they  are  all  of  them  presumably  anxious  to 
cure  disease.     It  would  seem  that  an  experience 


SOME   NOTES   ON   FASTING  49 

such  as  mine,  narrated  over  my  own  signature, 
and  backed  by  references  to  other  cases,  would 
have  awakened  the  interest  of  a  good  many  of 
these  professional  men. 

Out  of  the  six  or  eight  hundred  letters  that  I 
have  received,  just  two,  so  far  as  I  can  remember, 
were  from  physicians ;  and  out  of  the  hundreds  of 
newspaper  clippings  which  I  received,  not  a  single 
one  was  from  any  sort  of  medical  journal.  There 
was  one  physician,  in  an  out-of-the-way  town  in 
Arkansas,  who  was  really  interested,  and  who 
asked  me  to  let  him  print  several  thousand  copies 
of  the  article  in  the  form  of  a  pamphlet,  to  be 
distributed  among  his  patients.  One  single  mind, 
among  all  the  hundred  and  forty  thousand,  open 
to  a  new  truth ! 

In  the  English  Review  for  November,  19 10,  I 
find  an  article  entitled  "  Bone-setting  and  the  Pro- 
fession, by  Fairplay."  It  is  a  narrative  of  the 
experience  of  the  writer  and  some  of  his  friends 
with  Osteopathy,  being  a  defence  of  that  method 
of  treatment  in  cases  of  bruises  and  sprains.  I 
quote  the  following  paragraph: 

"  Harvey's  statement  about  the  circulation  of 
the  blood  was  met  with  scorn  by  the  doctors,  who 
called  him  in  derision  the  '  Circulator.'  Simpson's 
discovery  of  the  use  of  chloroform  was  scouted  by 
them  as  incredible,  some  even  declared  it  to  be 


50  THE   FASTING   CURE 

4  impious,'  and  a  '  defiance  of  the  will  of  God.' 
Elliotson's  use  of  the  stethoscope  called  forth  the 
rage  of  the  protected  society  as  a  body:  the 
Lancet  described  him  as  a  l  pariah  of  the  profes- 
sion/ The  ignorant  scorn  and  slander  broke  his 
heart;  but  to-day  the  stethoscope  is  in  constant 
use,  and  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant aids  to  a  correct  diagnosis." 

It  might  also  be  of  interest  to  quote  the  note 
which  one  finds  appended  to  this  remarkable  ar- 
ticle :  "  The  Editor  was  air- -sed  to  find  that  the 
Lancet  refused  the  advertisement  of  the  above 
article,  thereby  confirming  what  the  writer  alleges 
against  the  ring." 

Of  course  I  realize  what  a  difficult  matter  it  is 
for  a  medical  man  to  face  these  facts  about  the 
fast.  Sometimes  it  seems  to  me  that  we  have  no 
right  to  expect  their  help  at  all,  and  that  we  never 
will  receive  it.  For  we  are  asking  them  to  destroy 
themselves,  economically  speaking.  We  do  not 
expect  aid  from  eminent  corporation  lawyers  when 
we  set  out  to  overthrow  the  rule  of  privilege  in 
our  country ;  and  it  must  be  equally  difficult  for  a 
hard-worked  and  not  very  highly  paid  physician 
to  contemplate  the  triumph  of  an  idea,  which 
would  leave  no  place  for  him  in  civilization.  In  an 
article  contributed  to  Physical  Culture  magazine 
for  January,  1910,  I  stated  that  in  the  course  of 


SOME   NOTES   ON   FASTING  5 1 

my  search  for  health  I  had  paid  to  physicians,  sur- 
geons, druggists  and  sanatoriums  not  less  than 
fifteen  thousand  dollars  in  the  last  six  or  eight 
years.  In  the  last  year,  since  I  have  learned  about 
the  fast,  I  have  paid  nothing  at  all;  and  the  same 
thing  is  true,  perhaps  on  a  smaller  scale,  of  every 
one  who  discovers  the  fasting  cure.  As  one  man, 
who  wrote  me  a  letter  of  enthusiastic  gratitude, 
expresses  it:  "  I  have  spent  over  five  hundred  dol- 
lars in  the  last  ten  years  trying  to  get  well  on  medi- 
cines. It  cost  me  only  thirty  cents  to  use  your 
method,  and  for  that  thirty  cents  I  obtained  relief 
a  million-fold  more  beneficial  than  from  five  hun- 
dred dollars'  worth  of  medicine." 

Not  so  very  long  ago  I  saw  a  report  in  some 
metropolitan  newspaper  to  the  effect  that  the  med- 
ical profession  was  greatly  alarmed  over  the  de- 
crease in  its  revenues  —  it  being  estimated  that 
the  income  of  the  average  physician  to-day  was 
less  than  half  of  what  it  had  been  ten  years  ago. 
All  this,  I  think,  is  directly  attributable  to  the 
spread  of  knowledge  concerning  natural  methods 
in  the  treatment  of  disease  —  and,  more  impor- 
tant yet,  of  natural  methods  in  the  preservation  of 
health.  Only  the  other  day  I  was  talking  with  a 
friend  who  was  a  teacher  in  a  small  college  in  the 
Middle  West.  There  was  a  physician  regularly 
employed  to  attend  the  girl-students,  but  several 


52  THE   FASTING   CURE 

of  the  teachers  became  interested  in  the  fasting 
cure,  and  whenever  they  learned  of  any  illness 
they  would  go  to  the  girl  and  start  her  on  a  fast; 
as  a  result,  the  physician  lost  considerably  more 
than  half  his  practice.  In  the  same  way,  I  my- 
self recently  started  several  people  in  a  small 
town  to  fasting,  and  every  time  I  saw  the  local 
physician  driving  by  in  his  carriage  I  marvelled  at 
the  courtesy  and  cordiality  he  displayed;  for  be- 
fore I  had  left  that  place  I  had  cured  half  a  dozen 
of  his  permanent  customers  —  people  to  whom  he 
had  been  dispensing  pills  and  powders  every  few 
weeks  for  a  dozen  years. 


THE    HUMORS    OF    FASTING  53 


THE   HUMORS   OF   FASTING 

At  the  time  of  writing  these  words,  it  has 
been  just  six  months  since  I  published  my  first 
paper  upon  fasting,  and  I  am  still  getting  letters 
about  it  at  the  rate  of  half  a  dozen  a  day.  The 
tent  which  I  inhabit  is  rapidly  becoming  uninhab- 
itable because  of  pasteboard  boxes  full  of  "  fast- 
ing-letters ";  and  the  store-keeper  who  is  so 
good  as  to  receive  my  telegrams  over  the  'phone, 
is  growing  quite  expert  at  taking  down  the  symp- 
toms of  adventurers  who  get  started  and  want  to 
know  how  to  stop.  I  could  make  quite  a  postage- 
stamp  collection  from  these  letters  —  I  had  one 
from  Spain  and  one  from  India  and  one  from 
Argentina  all  in  the  same  day.  I  am  sure  I  might 
have  kept  a  sanatorium  for  those  people  who  have 
begged  me  to  let  them  come  and  live  near  me 
while  they  were  taking  a  fast.  One  woman  writes 
to  ask  me  to  name  my  own  price  to  take  charge  of 
a  case  of  elephantiasis  which  has  been  given  up  by 
all  the  experts  in  Europe ! 

Also,  I  could  fill  an  article  with  the  "  humors  " 
of  these  letters.  One  woman  writes  a  long  and 
anxious  inquiry  as  to  whether  it  is  permissible  to 


54  THE    FASTING   CURE 

drink  any  water  while  fasting;  and  then  follows 
this  up  with  a  special  delivery  letter  to  say  that  she 
hopes  I  will  not  think  she  is  crazy  —  she  had  read 
the  article  again  and  noted  the  injunction  to  drink 
as  much  water  as  she  can!  And  then  comes  a 
letter  from  a  man  who  wants  to  know  if  I  really 
mean  it  all;  do  I  truly  expect  him  to  eat  nothing 
whatever  —  or  would  I  call  it  fasting  if  he  ate 
just  nuts  and  fruit  now  and  then?  Quite  recently 
I  was  talking  with  a  physician  —  a  successful  and 
well-known  physician  —  who  refused  point-blank 
to  believe  that  a  human  being  could  live  for  more 
than  four  or  five  days  without  any  sort  of  nutri- 
ment. There  was  no  use  talking  about  it  —  it 
was  a  physiological  impossibility;  and  even  when 
I  offered  him  the  names  and  addresses  of  a  hun- 
dred people  who  had  done  it,  he  went  off  uncon- 
vinced. And  yet  that  same  physician  professes 
a  religion  which  through  nearly  two  thousand 
years  has  recommended  "  fasting  and  prayer " 
as  the  method  of  the  soul's  achievement;  and  he 
will  go  to  church  and  listen  reverently  to  accounts 
of  a  forty-day  fast  in  the  wilderness!  And  he 
lives  in  a  country  in  which  there  are  sanatoriums 
where  hundreds  of  people  are  fasting  all  the 
time,  and  where  twenty  or  thirty-day  fasts  occa- 
sion no  more  remark  than  a  good  golf-score  at  a 
summer  hotel! 


THE    HUMORS   OF   FASTING  55 

If  you  have  any  doubt  that  such  fasts  are 
taken,  you  can  very  quickly  convince  yourself. 
Less  than  a  year  ago  I  saw  a  man  completing  a 
fifty-day  fast;  I  talked  with  him  day  by  day,  and 
I  knew  absolutely  that  it  was  all  in  good  faith. 
The  symptoms  of  fasting  are  as  distinct  and  un- 
mistakable as  are,  for  instance,  those  of  small- 
pox; you  could  no  more  persuade  an  experienced 
person  that  you  are  fasting  when  you  are  not 
fasting,  than  you  could  persuade  a  bacteriologist 
that  you  had  sleeping-sickness  when  you  were 
merely  lazy. 

When  I  was  a  very  small  boy,  I  recall  that  a 
Dr.  Tanner  took  a  forty-day  fast  in  a  museum 
in  New  York;  and  I  recollect  well  the  conversa- 
tion in  our  family  —  how  obvious  it  was  that 
the  thing  must  be  a  fake,  and  how  foolish  people 
were  to  be  taken  in  by  so  absurd  a  fake.  "  He 
gets  something  to  eat  when  nobody  's  looking," 
we  would  say. 

But  then  what  about  his  weight?  Here  is  a 
man,  going  along  day  by  day,  year  in  and  year 
out,  weighing  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds;  and  now,  all  of  a  sudden,  he 
begins  to  lose  a  pound  a  day,  as  regularly  as  the 
sun  rises.    How  does  he  do  it? 

"  Well,"  we  would  say,  "  he  must  work  hard 
and  get  rid  of  it." 


56  THE    FASTING   CURE 

But  how  can  a  man  do  that,  when  he  had  no 
longer  enough  muscular  tissue  left  to  support  his 
weight?  And  when  his  pulse  is  only  thirty-five 
beats  to  the  minute? 

Then,  says  the  reader,  perhaps  he  goes  to  a 
Turkish  bath,  and  sweats  it  off. 

But  ask  any  jockey  how  he  'd  like  to  take  a 
Turkish  bath  every  day  for  fifty  days !  And  how 
he  would  stand  it  when  his  arms  and  thighs  were 
so  reduced  that  you  could  meet  your  thumb  and 
forefinger  around  them,  and  could  plainly  trace 
the  bones  and  the  blood  vessels!  And  then 
again,  there  is  the  tongue.  If  you  take  a  fast  and 
really  need  the  fast,  you  will  find  your  tongue  so 
coated  that  you  can  scrape  it  with  a  knife-blade. 
And  if  you  break  your  fast,  your  tongue  will  clear 
in  twenty-four  hours;  nothing  in  the  world  will 
coat  it  again  but  several  days  more  of  fasting. 
How  would  you  propose  to  get  around  that 
difficulty? 

Such  ideas  have  to  do  with  fasting  as  seen  by 
the  outsider.  I  recollect  reading  a  diverting 
account  of  the  fasting  cure,  in  which  the  victim 
was  portrayed  as  haunted  by  the  ghost  of  beef- 
steaks and  turkeys.  But  the  person  who  is  taking 
the  fast  knows  nothing  of  these  troubles,  nor 
would  there  be  much  profit  in  fasting  if  he  did. 
The  fast  is  not  an  ordeal,  it  is  a  rest;  and  I  have 


THE   HUMORS   OF   FASTING  57 

known  people  to  lose  interest  in  food  as  com- 
pletely as  if  they  had  never  tasted  any  in  their 
lives.  I  know  one  lady  who,  to  the  consternation 
of  her  friends  and  relatives,  began  a  fast  three 
days  before  Christmas  and  continued  it  until  three 
days  after  New  Year's;  and  on  both  the  holidays 
she  cooked  a  turkey  and  served  it  for  her  chil- 
dren. On  another  occasion,  during  a  week's  fast, 
she  "  put  up"  several  gallons  of  preserves;  the 
only  inconvenience  being  that  she  had  to  call  in 
a  neighbor  to  taste  them  and  see  if  they  were 
done.  I  myself  took  a  twelve-day  fast  while  liv- 
ing alone  with  my  little  boy,  and  three  times  every 
day  I  went  into  the  pantry  and  set  out  a  meal  for 
him.  I  was  not  troubled  at  all  by  the  sight  of  the 
food. 

The  longest  fast  of  which  I  had  heard  when 
my  article  was  written  was  seventy-eight  days; 
but  that  record  has  since  been  broken,  by  a  man 
named  Richard  Fausel.  Mr.  Fausel,  who  keeps 
a  hotel  somewhere  in  North  Dakota,  had  pre- 
sumably partaken  too  generously  of  the  good 
cheer  intended  for  his  guests,  for  he  found  him- 
self at  the  inconvenient  weight  of  three  hundred 
and  eighty-five  pounds.  He  went  to  a  sanatorium 
in  Battle  Creek  and  there  fasted  for  forty  days 
(if  my  recollection  serves  me),  and  by  dint  of  vig- 
orous exercise  meanwhile,  he  got  rid  of  one  hun- 


58  THE   FASTING   CURE 

dred  and  thirty  pounds.  I  think  I  never  saw  a 
funnier  sight  than  Mr.  Fausel  at  the  conclusion 
of  this  fast,  wearing  the  same  pair  of  trousers 
that  he  had  worn  at  the  beginning  of  it.  But  the 
temptations  of  hotel-keeping  are  severe,  and  when 
he  went  back  home,  he  found  himself  going  up 
in  weight  again.  This  time  he  concluded  to  do 
the  job  thoroughly,  and  went  to  Macfadden's 
place  in  Chicago,  and  set  out  upon  a  fast  of  ninety 
days.  That  is  a  new  record  —  though  I  some- 
times wonder  if  it  is  quite  fair  to  call  it  "  fasting  " 
when  a  man  is  simply  living  upon  an  internal 
larder  of  fat. 

It  must  be  a  curious  experience  to  go  for  three 
months  without  tasting  food.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  the  stomach  and  all  the  organs  of  assimila- 
tion forget  how  to  do  their  work.  The  one 
danger  in  the  fasting  treatment  is  that  when  you 
break  the  fast,  hunger  is  apt  to  come  back  with 
a  rush,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  stomach  is 
weak,  and  the  utmost  caution  is  needed.  If  you 
yield  to  your  cravings,  you  may  fill  your  whole 
system  with  toxins,  and  undo  all  the  good  of  the 
treatment;  but  if  you  go  slowly,  and  restrict 
yourself  to  very  small  quantities  of  the  most 
easily  assimilated  foods,  then  in  an  incredibly 
short  time  the  body  will  have  regained  its 
strength. 


THE    HUMORS   OF    FASTING  59 

My  experience  has  taught  me  that  it  is  well  not 
to  be  too  proud  at  such  a  time,  but  to  get  some 
one  to  help  you.  And  it  ought  to  be  some  one 
who  has  fasted,  for  a  person  at  the  end  of  a  fast 
is  an  agitating  sight  to  his  neighbors,  and  their  one 
impulse  is  to  get  a  "  square  meal "  into  him  as 
quickly  as  possible.  Quite  recently  there  was  one 
of  my  converts  camping  on  my  trail  in  New  York 
City,  and  he  called  at  the  home  of  a  relative  of 
mine,  an  elderly  lady,  who  does  not  take  much 
stock  in  my  eccentricities.  I  shall  not  soon  forget 
her  description  of  his  appearance  —  "I  thought 
he  was  going  to  die  right  there  before  my  eyes !  " 
she  said.  And  no  wonder,  since  the  poor  fellow 
had  climbed  four  flights  of  stairs  to  the  apart- 
ment. "  I  know  you  '11  get  into  trouble,"  added 
my  relative,  "  if  you  don't  stop  advising  people  to 
do  such  things !  " 

I  was  interested  enough  in  the  question  of  fast- 
ing to  spend  some  time  at  a  sanatorium  where  they 
make  a  specialty  of  it.  One  can  see  a  sicker  look- 
ing collection  of  humans  in  such  a  place  than 
anywhere  else  in  the  world,  I  fancy.  In  the  first 
place,  people  do  not  take  the  fasting  cure  until 
they  are  looking  desperate;  and  when  they  have 
got  into  the  fast  they  look  more  desperate.  At 
the  later  stages  they  sometimes  take  to  wheel- 
chairs;  and  at  all  times  they  move  with  delibera- 


60  THE   FASTING   CURE 

tion,  and  their  faces  wear  serious  expressions. 
They  gather  in  little  groups  and  discuss  their 
symptoms;  there  is  nothing  so  interesting  in  the 
world  when  you  are  fasting  as  to  talk  symptoms 
with  a  lot  of  people  who  are  doing  the  same  thing. 
There  are  some  who  are  several  days  ahead  of 
you,  and  who  make  you  ashamed  of  your  doubts; 
and  others  who  are  behind  you,  and  to  whom 
you  have  to  appear  as  an  old  campaigner.  So 
you  develop  an  esprit  de  corps,  as  it  were  — 
though  that  sounds  as  if  I  were  trying  to  make 
a  pun. 

All  this  may  not  seem  very  alluring;  but  it  is 
far  better  than  a  life-time  of  illness,  such  as  many 
of  these  people  have  known  before.  I  never  knew 
that  there  was  such  terrible  suffering  in  the  world 
until  I  heard  some  of  their  stones;  they  would 
indeed  be  depressing  company,  were  it  not  for  the 
fact  that  now  they  are  getting  well.  The  reader 
may  answer  sarcastically  that  they  think  they  are. 
But  every  Christian  Scientist  knows  that  this  comes 
to  the  same  thing;  and  I  have  talked  with  not  less 
than  a  hundred  people  who  have  fasted  for  three 
days  or  more,  and  out  of  these  there  were  but 
two  or  three  who  did  not  report  themselves  as 
greatly  benefited.  So  I  am  accustomed  to  say 
that  I  would  rather  spend  my  time  in  a  fast- 
ing   sanatorium    than    in    an   ordinary    "  swell M 


THE    HUMORS   OF    FASTING  6 1 

hotel.  The  people  in  the  former  are  making 
themselves  well  and  know  it;  while  the  people 
in  the  latter  are  making  themselves  ill,  and  don't 
know  it. 


62  THE    FASTING    CURE 


A   SYMPOSIUM   ON    FASTING 

Recently  I  published  a  request  that  those  who 
had  tried  the  fast  as  the  result  of  my  advocacy 
would  write  to  advise  me  of  the  results.  I  stated 
that  I  desired  to  hear  unfavorable  results  as  well 
as  favorable;  that  I  wanted  to  get  at  the  facts, 
and  would  tabulate  the  results  exactly  as  they 
came.    The  questions  asked  were  as  follows : 

i.    How  many  times  have  you  fasted? 

2.  How  many  days  on  each  occasion? 

3.  From  what  complaints  did  you  suffer? 

4.  Were  these  complaints  ever  diagnosed  by 
regular  physician?  If  so,  give  the  names  and  ad- 
dresses of  these  physicians. 

5.  Do  you  consider  that  you  were  definitely 
benefited  by  the  fasts?    If  so,  in  what  way? 

6.  For  how  long  did  the  benefit  continue? 

7.  Do  you  consider  that  you  were  completely 
cured  ? 

8.  Do  you  consider  that  you  were  definitely 
harmed?     If  so,  in  what  way? 

9.  Have  you  ever  been  examined  by  any  reg- 
ular physician  since  the  cure?  If  so,  give  name 
and  address. 


A   SYMPOSIUM   ON   FASTING  63 

10.  Are  you  willing  that  your  name  and  ad- 
dress should  be  quoted  for  the  benefit  of  others? 

The  total  number  of  fasts  taken  was  277,  and 
the  average  number  of  days  was  6.  There  were 
90  of  five  days  or  over,  51  of  ten  days  or  over, 
and  6  of  30  days  or  over.  Out  of  the  109  persons 
who  wrote  to  me,  100  reported  benefit,  and  17 
no  benefit.  Of  these  17  about  half  give  wrong 
breaking  of  the  fast  as  the  reason  for  the  failure. 
In  cases  where  the  cure  had  not  proved  permanent, 
about  half  mentioned  that  the  recurrence  of  the 
trouble  was  caused  by  wrong  eating,  and  about 
half  of  the  rest  made  this  quite  evident  by  what 
they  said.  Also  it  is  to  be  noted  that  in  the  cases 
of  the  17  who  got  no  benefit,  nearly  all  were  fasts 
of  only  three  or  four  days. 

Following  is  the  complete  list  of  diseases  bene- 
fited—  45  of  the  cases  having  been  diagnosed  by 
physicians:  indigestion  (usually  associated  with 
nervousness),  27;  rheumatism,  5 ;  colds,  8;  tuber- 
culosis, 4;  constipation,  14;  poor  circulation,  3; 
headaches,  5 ;  anaemia,  3 ;  scrofula,  1 ;  bronchial 
trouble,  5 ;  syphilis,  1 ;  liver  trouble,  5 ;  general 
debility,  5 ;  chills  and  fever,  1 ;  blood  poison- 
ing, 1;  ulcerated  leg,  1;  neurasthenia,  6;  loco- 
motor ataxia,  1 ;  sciatica,  1 ;  asthma,  2 ;  excess 
of  uric  acid,  1 ;    epilepsy,  1 ;   pleurisy,  1 ;   impac- 


64  THE   FASTING   CURE 


tion  of  bowels,  i ; 

eczema, 

2 ;   catarrh, 

6; 

appen- 

dicitis,  3  ;   valvular  disease 

of  heart,  i ; 

insomnia, 

i ;   gas  poisoning, 

i;   gnpp 

e,  i ;  cancer 

,  I. 

There  follows  a  brief  summary  of  some  of  the 
most  interesting  cases.  A  number  of  longer  letters 
will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 

Mrs.  Lulu  Wallace  Smith,  324  W.  White  Oak 
Ave.,  Monrovia,  Cal.  Age  28.  Fasted  30  days 
for  appendicitis  and  peritonitis,  diagnosed  by  four 
physicians.  "  Yes,  indeed,  I  have  definitely  been 
benefited  by  fasting.  My  stomach  is  not  dis- 
tressed after  meals,  I  have  regular  evacuations  of 
the  intestines,  which  I  had  not  had  since  I  was 
seventeen.  I  feel  perfectly  healthy  and  look  the 
same." 

William  N .  Syphilis,  with  advanced  ul- 
cers in  throat.  Physicians  declared  the  case 
hopeless.  Complete  disappearance  of  symptoms 
after  four  day's  fast,  but  they  gradually  reap- 
peared, and  longer  fast  intended. 

Dora  Jordan,  Connersville,  Md.  Indigestion, 
extreme  nervousness,  neuralgia  in  its  worst  form. 
Fasted  thirty  days;  did  most  of  cooking  for  a 
family  of  five,  was  at  no  time  tempted  to  eat. 
"  I  am  no  longer  troubled  with  the  old  diseases, 
and  weigh  more  than  ever  before.  After  my  fast 
I  felt  as  happy  and  care  free  as  a  little  child." 

C.  L.  Clark,  Greenville,  Mich.  Nervous,  poor 
digestion.    Fasted  nine  days.    "  I  have  been  won- 


A   SYMPOSIUM   ON    FASTING  6$ 

derfully  benefited,  and  am  a  rabid  convert.  Alas, 
for  the  poor  mortal  who  shows  the  faintest  spark 
of  interest  in  my  fast  —  I  hand  him  the  whole 
works,  lock,  stock  and  barrel !  I  feel  a  new  power 
and  new  incentive  in  life.  Whenever  I  see  a  sick 
person,  I  feel  like  telling  him  that  for  all  he  knows 
to  the  contrary,  good  health  has  been  and  may  be 
only  eight  or  ten  days  away  and  waiting  for  years 
for  him  to  claim  it." 

T.  S.  Jacks,  Muskegon,  Mich.  Twenty  days, 
followed  by  shorter  fasts,    for  stomach  trouble, 

diagnosed  by  Dr.  M as  cancer.     "  He  advised 

me  to  be  operated  on.  Since  my  fast,  three  years 
ago,  I  have  had  no  trouble  with  my  stomach. 
I  am  entirely  cured,  and  am  enjoying  fine  health." 

Gordon  G.  Ives,  147  Forsythe  Bldg.,  Fresno, 
Cal.  "  Have  fasted  a  good  many  times  since 
1899,  to  cure  catarrh  of  stomach,  constipation, 
deafness  of  four  months'  standing,  neuralgia,  etc. 
Duration,  from  one  to  sixteen  days.  Never  failed 
in  accomplishing  a  cure.  Benefit  continued  until 
I  had  over-eaten  for  a  long  time.  Complaints 
were  never  diagnosed  by  regular  physicians,  as 
I  got  on  to  them  in  1894.  Use  my  name  if  it  will 
help  the  truth." 

Mrs.  Maria  L.  Scott,  Boring,  Ariz.  Reports 
case  of  husband,  who  fasted  seven  days  for  con- 
stipation and  deafness;  had  been  obliged  to  take 
enema  daily  for  several  months.     Complete  cure. 

Mrs.  A.  Wears,  De  Funiak  Springs,  Fla. 
"  Age  forty-two,  subject  to  severe  colds  and  sore 


66  THE   FASTING   CURE 

throat  all  my  life,  chronic  catarrh  of  head  and 
throat,  in  bed  two  winters  with  bronchitis  and 
asthma.  Did  not  take  complete  fast.  My  catarrh 
is  much  improved.  I  feel  perfectly  well  and  enjoy 
life  so  much  more  than  I  did  before  the  fast." 

Mrs.  Mae  Bramble,  Alba,  Pa.,  R.  F.  D.  70. 
One  fast  of  thirty  days,  another  of  three  days; 
nervous  prostration  the  first  time,  appendicitis  the 
second  time.  "  The  first  complaint  was  diag- 
nosed, the  second  was  not;  as  I  am  a  professional 
nurse,  I  understood  the  symptoms  myself."  Com- 
plete and  permanent  cure.  "  I  have  never  had  a 
return  of  the  nervous  trouble,  and  am  well  of  the 
other  complaint.  It  is  five  years  since  the  first 
fast." 

M.  E.  Beard,  Corning,  Cal.  Fasted  nine  days 
for  scrofula.  Had  been  diagnosed.  Complete 
cure,  permanent  since  1908.  Age  forty-seven. 
"  Five  years  ago  I  broke  down.  Physicians  never 
could  tell  me  what  ailed  me.  I  kept  busy  during 
my  fast  physically  and  mentally;  worked  over  the 
cook  stove  and  outdoors.     Felt  no  weakness." 

Joseph  L.  Lewis,  Hatfield,  Ark.  Fasted  three 
days,  and  then  four  days.  "  During  the  last  ten 
days  have  felt  better  than  at  any  time  during  the 
last  seven  years." 

Monroe  Bornn,  Port  of  Spain,  Trinidad. 
Fasted  seven  days  on  three  occasions,  for  liver 
trouble.  "  I  had  been  treated  by  three  physi- 
cians.   I  consider  that  I  was  completely  cured.    I 


A  SYMPOSIUM  ON    FASTING  67 

have  been  examined  by  regular  physicians  since 
the  cure." 

E.  B.  Bayne,  White  Plains,  N.  Y.  Sends  record 
of  fasts  taken  by  two  people,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  A. 
Mr.  A.  fasted  for  rheumatism,  which  had  caused 
kidney  and  bladder  trouble  of  years'  standing, 
and  iritis ;  fasted  five  days  and  then  four  days  and 
was  completely  cured.  Mrs.  A.  Neuralgia  and 
catarrhal  deafness.  Completely  cured.  Finds 
that  exposure  to  draughts  has  no  effect  upon  her 
whatever,  heretofore  she  would  catch  cold  upon 
the  least  exposure." 

Mrs.  Charles  H.  Vosseller,  Newark,  N.  J.  "  I 
don't  agree  with  you  or  Bernarr  Macfadden  in 
not  recommending  fasting  for  tuberculosis.  My 
case  was  diagnosed  by  Dr.  B.  G ,  New  Bruns- 
wick, N.  J.  I  fasted  nineteen  days  and  was  com- 
pletely cured;  I  received  no  harm,  and  have  been 
examined  since  by  a  physician.  I  weigh  114  lbs. 
now  and  before  my  fast  weighed  100  lbs.  I  never 
felt  better  in  my  life  than  I  do  at  present.  Do 
not  know  that  I  have  a  pair  of  lungs." 

In  connection  with  the  above  tabulation  of  re- 
sults, it  should  be  specified  that  it  does  not  include 
any  of  the  cases  quoted  elsewhere  in  the  book; 
it  includes  some  of  the  letters  given  in  the  Appen- 
dix, but  not  all.  Thus  it  will  appear  that  there 
are  many  more  than  277  cases  of  fasting  recorded 
in  this  volume.     The  reason  that  I  did  not  sum- 


68  THE   FASTING   CURE 

marize  in  the  tabulation  all  the  letters  I  have 
received  is,  that  I  wished  to  give  only  those  which 
were  sent  to  me  in  answer  to  my  definite  series  of 
questions,  so  that  I  might  be  sure  of  getting  the 
unfavorable  as  well  as  the  favorable  reports.  Re- 
cently a  well-known  physician  who  edits  a  maga- 
zine of  health  came  out  in  vehement  opposition 
to  the  fasting  cure,  maintaining  that  we  hear  only 
of  the  cases  which  are  successful,  and  do  not  hear 
of  the  disastrous  failures.  In  reply  to  this,  I 
wrote  to  him  suggesting  that  he  publish  my  series 
of  questions  in  his  magazine,  thus  giving  his 
readers  an  opportunity  to  make  me  acquainted 
with  the  unsuccessful  cases.  This,  however,  the 
physician  declined  to  do. 

Death  during  the  Fast 

There  was  much  newspaper  discussion  of  my 
fasting  papers  —  most  of  it  being  sarcastic.  The 
most  biting  comment  that  I  recall  came  from 
somewhere  out  West,  and  ran  about  as  follows: 
"  A  Seattle  man  fasted  forty  days  for  stomach 
trouble.  His  stomach  is  troubling  him  no  longer. 
He  is  dead."  I  set  to  work  to  find  out  about  this 
case,  and  I  give  the  facts  on  page  137.  I  also 
saw  a  report  from  the  London  Daily  Telegraph 
to   the    effect   that    a   man    had   died   in   South 


A   SYMPOSIUM   ON    FASTING  69 

Africa  as  a  result  of  trying  my  "  cure."  How 
many  thousands  of  people  tried  it  and  lived, 
I  do  not  know;  but  horrified  relatives  and 
enterprising  newspaper  writers  would  see  that 
the  public  was  informed  about  any  that 
died. 

As  to  the  possibility  or  probability  of  death 
during  a  fast,  I  have  one  or  two  points  to  note : 

First,  a  good  many  sick  people  are  dying  all 
the  time.  It  would  be  an  argument  for  fasting 
if  it  saved  any  of  them.  It  is  no  argument  against 
fasting  that  it  fails  to  save  them  all.  No  one 
would  think  of  bringing  it  up  against  his  surgeon 
or  his  family  physician  that  he  occasionally  lost 
a  patient. 

Second,  people  might  die  very  frequently,  with- 
out that  being  an  argument  against  the  cure.  It 
might  simply  be  a  consequence  of  the  desperately 
ill  class  of  people  who  were  trying  it.  A  doctor 
who  had  a  new  method  of  healing,  and  was  per- 
mitted to  use  it  only  upon  those  whom  all  other 
doctors  had  given  up,  would  be  considered  success- 
ful if  he  effected  even  an  occasional  cure.  I  would 
wager  that  of  the  people  who  read  my  article  and 
set  out  to  fast,  practically  all  had  been  suffer- 
ing for  many  years,  and  had  given  the  "  regular  " 
physicians  unlimited  opportunity  to  work  on  them. 

Third,  it  may  be  set  down  as  absolutely  certain 


70  THE   FASTING   CURE 

that  no  one  ever  died  of  starvation  while  fasting. 
The  essential  feature  of  the  fast  is  that  after  the 
first  two  or  three  days  all  hunger  ceases;  and  that 
any  one  could  die  of  lack  of  food  without  feeling 
a  desire  for  food,  is  absurd  upon  the  face  of  it. 
Nature  simply  does  not  work  that  way.  It  re- 
minds me  of  a  young  lady  who  once  told  me  that 
she  would  not  go  to  sleep  with  a  mouse  in  the 
room,  because  she  imagined  the  mouse  might 
nibble  off  her  ear  without  waking  her ! 

As  to  the  possibility  that  you  might  starve, 
during  those  first  days  while  you  are  hungry  — 
the  answer  is  simply  that  you  don't.  It  is  perfectly 
true  that  men  have  died  of  starvation  in  three  or 
four  days;  but  the  starvation  existed  in  their 
minds  —  it  was  fright  that  killed  them.  That 
they  did  not  truly  starve  is  proven  by  my  letters 
from  several  hundreds  of  people  who  have  fasted 
over  that  time,  and  who  are  alive  to  tell  of  it. 

There  are  conditions  in  the  human  body  which 
lead  to  death  inevitably;  and  some  of  these  con- 
ditions are  beyond  the  power  of  the  fast  to  rem- 
edy. When  a  person  so  afflicted  sets  out  to  fast, 
and  dies  in  spite  of  the  fast,  the  papers  of  course 
declare  that  he  died  because  of  the  fast.  Dr.  L. 
B.  Hazzard  of  Seattle  has  published  a  very  useful 
little  book,  "  Fasting  for  the  Cure  of  Disease/' 
in  which  she  tells  of  two  cases  of  "  death  from 


A   SYMPOSIUM   ON    FASTING  7 1 

fasting,"  where  the  autopsy  revealed  conditions 
with  which  the  fast  had  no  connection,  and  which 
made  death  certain.  Chances  of  that  sort  one  has 
to  take  in  life.  You  may  have  a  blood  vessel  in 
such  a  state  that  when  you  run  after  a  street  car 
the  increased  pressure  will  cause  it  to  burst;  but 
you  do  not  on  that  account  declare  that  no  man 
ought  to  exert  himself  violently. 

As  an  example  of  the  part  that  mental  disturb- 
ances may  play  in  the  fast,  I  will  cite  the  case  of 
a  woman  friend  who  started  out  to  fast  for  a  com- 
plication of  chronic  ailments.  She  was  rather 
stout,  and  did  not  mind  it  at  all  —  was  going 
cheerfully  about  her  daily  tasks ;  but  her  husband 
heard  about  it,  and  came  home  to  tell  her  what 
a  fool  she  was  making  of  herself;  and  in  a  few 
hours  she  was  in  a  state  of  complete  collapse. 
No  doubt  if  there  had  been  a  physician  in  the 
neighborhood,  there  would  have  been  another  tale 
of  a  "  victim  of  a  shallow  and  unscrupulous 
sensationalist."  Fortunately,  however,  business 
called  the  husband  away  again,  and  the  next  day 
the  woman  was  all  right,  and  completed  an  eight- 
day  fast  with  the  best  results.  Bear  this  in  mind, 
so  that  if  you  wake  up  some  morning  and  find 
your  temperature  sub-normal  and  your  pulse  at 
forty,  and  your  arms  too  weak  to  lift  you,  and  if 
your  friends  get  round  you  and  tell  you  that  you 


72  THE   FASTING   CURE 

look  like  a  mummy  out  of  a  sarcophagus  of  the 
seventeenth  dynasty,  and  that  I  am  a  Socialist  and 
an  undesirable  citizen  —  you  may  be  able  to  smile 
at  them  good  naturedly  and  tell  them  that  you 
will  never  again  eat  until  you  are  hungry. 

I  have  thought  over  the  cases  of  failure  of  the 
fast,  where  I  have  been  able  to  inquire  into  all 
the  circumstances,  and  I  think  I  can  make  the 
statement  that  I  do  not  know  a  case  which  might 
not  be  attributed  either  to  the  influence  of  ner- 
vous excitement,  or  to  unwise  breaking  of  the  fast. 
In  the  last  batch  of  letters  was  one  with  a  printed 
account  of  the  disastrous  results  of  a  three  weeks* 
fast  taken  by  a  woman.  It  is  an  example  of  about 
all  the  blunders  that  I  can  think  of.  She  describes 
herself  as  occupying  "  a  responsible  office  posi- 
tion," which  taxed  her  strength  to  the  utmost; 
and  she  tried  to  do  this  work  all  the  time  she  was 
fasting.  She  would  get  up  and  go  to  work  when 
she  was  "  scarcely  able  to  drag  one  foot  after  an- 
other." On  about  the  nineteenth  day  her  mother 
arrived,  and  then  I  quote:  "  She  almost  dropped 
at  sight  of  me,  for  I  had  not  given  a  hint  as  to  my 
condition;  but  despite  my  protests,  she  sent  for 
the  doctor  at  once.  My!  Didn't  he  scold,  and 
tell  me  what  was  what!  Mother's  heart  was  so 
torn  with  sorrow  and  pity  that  she  had  n't  the 
heart  to  reproach  me  for  my  three  weeks'  orgy 


A   SYMPOSIUM   ON   FASTING  73 

of  fasting.  She  thought  I  had  paid  dearly  for  my 
folly."  I  don't  think  it  necessary  to  say  anything 
more,  except  that  I  feel  sorry  for  the  victim,  and 
that  I  am  glad  to  know  this  happened  two  years 
ago,  so  that  I  am  not  to  blame  for  the  results. 

By  way  of  contrast  with  this  case  I  will  quote 
the  following  letter,  which  will  show  the  reader  the 
kind  of  experience  that  makes  fasting  enthusiasts : 
"  My  wife  and  I  have  each  nearly  reached  our 
seventy-second  year.  I  was  born  a  physical  wreck. 
A  dozen  years  ago  we  began  taking  short  fasts, 
from  three  to  eleven  days'  duration,  for  all  our 
ills  of  the  flesh.  But  each  of  us  had  chronic 
troubles  of  forty  years'  standing,  which  seemed 
growing  no  better.  And  finally,  two  years  ago  last 
July,  my  wife  said  she  was  going  to  take  a  *  con- 
quest fast '  if  it  killed  her,  for  she  was  tired  of 
living  with  her  present  ills.  I  thought  it  a  good 
time  to  try  a  little  conquest  fasting  on  my  own 
hook.  I  had  no  fear  of  the  result.  I  knew  that 
nature  would  tell  me  when  I  had  fasted  long 
enough.  So  we  began  an  absolute  fast  from  all 
food  except  distilled  water  and  fresh  air.  We 
lived  in  fresh  air  night  and  day.  We  took  copious 
enemas  daily,  and  I  took  a  cabinet  sweat,  followed 
by  a  cold  plunge  every  other  day.  I  knew  that 
I  must  have  many  years  of  filth  accumulation  in 
my  bowels.     And  the  amount  of  putridity  that 


74  THE   FASTING   CURE 

came  from  my  bowels  the  first  twenty-five  days  of 
the  fast  was  amazing. 

"  After  fasting  twenty-eight  days  I  began  to  be 
hungry,  and  broke  my  fast  with  a  little  grape 
juice,  followed  the  next  day  with  tomatoes,  and 
later  with  vegetable  soup.  My  wife  began  to  be 
hungry  after  fasting  thirty-one  days,  and  broke 
her  fast  in  a  similar  manner  to  myself. 

"  It  is  now  two  years  since  we  took  the  conquest 
fast,  and  my  wife  has  no  return  of  her  former 
troubles.  And  I  am  enjoying  all  the  mental  and 
physical  pleasures  which  come  from  clean  bowels. 
We  think  we  have  learned  how  to  live  that  we 
will  never  need  another  fast.  Soon  after  the  fast 
I  was  examined  by  Dr.  S ,  the  leading  sur- 
geon of  Los  Angeles  and  Southern  California, 
who  pronounced  me  as  being  the  most  wonderful 
person  he  ever  met  regarding  softness  of  arteries, 
and  suppleness  of  body,  for  my  age." 

Fasting  and  the  Mind 

The  reader  will  observe  that  I  discuss  this  fast- 
ing question  from  a  materialistic  view-point.  I 
am  telling  what  it  does  to  the  body;  but  besides 
this,  of  course,  fasting  is  a  religious  exercise.  I 
heard  the  other  day  from  a  man  who  was  taking 
a   forty-day   fast,   as   a  means  of  increasing  his 


A    SYMPOSIUM   ON   FASTING  75 

"  spiritual  power."  I  am  not  saying  that  for  you 
to  smile  at  —  he  has  excellent  authority  for  the 
procedure.  The  point  with  me  is  that  I  find  life 
so  full  of  interest  just  now  that  I  don't  have  much 
time  to  think  about  my  "  soul."  I  get  so  much 
pleasure  out  of  a  handful  of  raisins,  or  a  cold  bath, 
or  a  game  of  tennis,  that  I  fear  it  is  interfering 
with  my  spiritual  development.  I  have,  however, 
a  very  dear  friend  who  goes  in  for  the  things  of 
the  soul,  and  she  tells  me  that  when  you  are  fast- 
ing, the  higher  faculties  are  in  a  sensitive  condi- 
tion, and  that  you  can  do  many  interesting  things 
with  your  subliminal  self.  For  instance,  she  had 
always  considered  herself  a  glutton;  and  so,  dur- 
ing an  eight-day  fast,  just  before  going  to  sleep 
and  just  after  awakening,  she  would  lie  in  a  sort 
of  trance  and  impress  upon  her  mind  the  idea  of 
restraint  in  eating.  The  result,  she  declared,  has 
been  that  she  has  never  since  then  had  an  impulse 
to  over-eat. 

There  are  many  such  curious  things,  about  which 
you  may  read  in  the  books  of  the  yogis  and  the 
theosophists  —  who  were  fasting  in  previous  in- 
carnations when  you  and  I  were  swinging  about 
in  the  tree-tops  by  our  tails.  But  I  ought  to  report 
upon  one  fasting  experiment  which  resulted  dis- 
astrously for  me.  Earlier  in  this  book  I  told  how 
I  had  been  able  to  write  the  greater  part  of  a  play 


76  THE   FASTING   CURE 

while  fasting.  Shortly  afterwards  I  plunged  into 
the  writing  of  a  new  novel,  and  as  usual  I  got  so 
much  interested  in  it  that  I  was  n't  hungry.  I  said 
that  I  would  fast,  and  save  the  eating  time,  and 
the  digesting  time  as  well.  So  I  would  sit  and 
work  for  sixteen  hours  or  more  a  day,  sometimes 
for  six  hours  at  a  stretch  without  moving.  After 
two  or  three  days  of  this  I  would  be  hungry,  and 
would  eat  something;  but  being  too  much  ex- 
cited to  digest  it,  I  would  say,  "  Hang  eating, 
anyhow!"  —  and  go  on  for  another  period  of 
work.  I  kept  that  up  for  some  six  weeks,  and 
I  turned  out  an  appalling  lot  of  manuscript; 
but  I  found  that  I  had  taken  off  twenty-five  pounds 
of  flesh,  and  had  got  to  such  a  point  that  I 
could  not  digest  a  little  warm  milk.  I  cite  this 
in  order  that  the  reader  may  understand  just 
why  I  take  a  gross  and  material  view  of  fasting. 
My  advice  is  to  lie  round  in  the  sun  and  read 
story-books  and  take  care  of  your  body,  and  leave 
the  soul-exercises  and  the  nervous  efforts  until 
the  fast  is  over.  But  all  the  same,  I  know  that 
there  will  be  great  poetry  written  some  day, 
when  our  poets  have  got  on  to  the  fasting  trick 
—  and  when  our  poets  care  enough  about  their 
work  to  be  willing  to  feed  it  with  their  own 
flesh. 

The  great  thing  about  the  fast  is  that  it  sets  you 


A   SYMPOSIUM   ON   FASTING  77 

a  new  standard  of  health.  You  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  worrying  along  somehow;  but  now  you 
discover  your  own  possibilities,  and  thereafter  you 
are  not  content  until  you  have  found  some  way  to 
keep  that  virginal  state  of  stomach  which  one 
possesses  for  a  month  or  two  after  a  successful 
fast.  It  must  mean,  of  course,  many  changes 
in  your  life,  if  you  really  wish  to  keep  it.  It 
means  the  giving  up  of  tobacco  and  alcohol,  and 
a  too  sedentary  life,  and  steam-heated  rooms; 
above  all  else,  it  means  giving  up  self-indulgent 
eating. 

A  couple  of  years  ago  my  wife  and  myself  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  young  lady  patient  in  a  san- 
atorium, who  was  in  a  much  run-down  condition, 
anaemic  and  nervous.  We  persuaded  her  to  take 
a  fast  of  five  or  six  days,  and  afterwards  take  the 
milk  diet,  as  the  result  of  which  she  went  back  to 
her  home  in  Virginia  with  what  she  described  as 
11  smiles  and  dimples  and  curves  and  bright  eyes." 
She  was  so  enthusiastic  about  the  cure  that  she  pro- 
ceeded to  apply  it  to  all  her  family  and  her  friends ; 
and  some  time  afterwards  she  wrote  my  wife  a 
most  diverting  account  of  her  adventures.  After 
some  persuasion  I  secured  her  permission  to  quote 
her  letter,  having  duly  omitted  all  the  names.  It 
makes  clear  the  thorny  path  which  the  fasting 
enthusiast  has  to  travel  in  this  world. 


78  THE   FASTING   CURE 

I  will  try  in  a  very  limited  space  of  time  to  tell 
you  what  keeps  me  a  slave  here  at  home.     I  got 

Mr.  X down  from  to  put  papa  and 

mamma  on  the  fasting  cure  —  papa  had  a  bad 
case  of  grippe  —  mamma  had  indigestion.  My 
oldest  married  brother  is  in  dreadful  health,  and 
his  wife  and  baby  are  not  well.  I  wore  myself 
nearly  out  trying  to  get  them  well,  and  at  the 
same  time  trying  to  pick  up  some  threads  of  long 
neglected  social  duties.  People  were  beginning 
to  call  me  "  stuck-up  "  (horrid  vulgar  term),  so 
unless  I  wanted  to  make  enemies  of  the  wives  and 
daughters  of  papa's  and  brother's  business  friends, 
I  had  to  go  to  a  few  parties  and  pay  some  long- 
neglected  calls.     I  did  it  all,  and  then  decided  to 

have  Mr.  X come  to  help  me.     I  got  papa 

and  mamma  and  M and  her  baby( !)   on  a 

fast  —  and  then  woe  is  me  —  I  had  to  get  them 
off  again !  They  had  various  and  alarming  symp- 
toms due  to  their  ignorance  of  the  methods,  and 
the  wild  interest  of  the  town  medicine-men.  The 
family  doctor  gave  me  a  "  straight  talk "  and 
asked  me  if  I  was  going  to  try  to  kill  my  father 
and  mother.  Papa  would  not  give  up  his  cigar- 
ettes, and  a  "  toddy  "  now  and  then.     M 's 

baby  lost  four  pounds  while  his  mother  was  fast- 
ing.    All  the  doctors'  wives  came  to  call,   and 

beset  me  with  questions  —  and  I  had  the  d of 

a  time.  But  I  stood  by  my  guns.  When  the 
overfed,  self-indulgent  family  all  got  to  vomiting 
at  once,  my  hands  were  full,  and  I  nearly  had  ner- 
vous prostration  before  I  got  order  out  of  the 
bedlam  I  had  stirred  up. 


A   SYMPOSIUM   ON   FASTING  79 

Well,  they  got  over  the  fast  and  on  to  the  milk. 
Then  I  had  to  tend  to  the  milk  myself  or  they 
refused  to  drink  it.  Finally  mamma  got  to  feel- 
ing so  well  that  she  sat  up,  and  planned  big  course 
dinners  and  invited  people  to  eat  them.  She 
began  to  order  new  clothes  for  the  kids,  new  fur- 
nishings for  the  house,  and  started  in  to  live  her 
disorderly,  ungodly  "  Southern  hospitality "  life 
all  over  again.    Our  senator  died  and  mamma  got 

into  politics  in  the  new  election;  and  Cousin  J 

got  drunk,  and  I  had  to  go  with  him  to  the  Keeley 
Institute,  etc.,  etc.  Surely  there  is  a  heaven  for 
saints  like  me.  I  did  not  fly  the  roost  as  I  was 
tempted  to  do,  but  I  answered  midnight  calls  of 
the  spoiled,  nauseated  ones,  and  fixed  hot-water 
bags,  quelled  riots  among  the  meat-eating  servants 
and  hungry  children  —  and  swore  I  'd  win !  I 
did.  Well,  I  got  things  going  in  fine  order  at  last, 
with  papa  cured  of  his  grippe  and  an  old  case  of 
kidney  trouble.  Mamma  is  now  comfortably  eat- 
ing boiled  ham  and  stuffed  peppers,  and  fruit  cake 
and  cherry  pie,  and  green  olives  and  what  not  at 
the  same  meal.  She  is  well,  though.  But  of 
course  she  will  get  sick  again.  Papa,  the  only 
sane  member  of  our  family,  is  still  holding  on  to 
the  milk,  taking  four  quarts  of  buttermilk  a  day, 

and  he  is  flourishing,  thank  heaven!     M is 

still  bilious,  having  broken  her  fast  with  hard- 
boiled  eggs  and  pork  chops.  And  I  am  still  liv- 
ing, in  spite  of  having  been  to  Keeley,  and  inci- 
dentally having  danced  all  night  (with  a  low- 
neck,  short-sleeved  gown  on!)  at  the  Club 

ball,  sat  through  several  dinners  and  bridge  parties 


80  THE   FASTING   CURE 

into  the  "  wee  sma'  hours,"  and  had  two  men 
propose  to  me  with  the  prelude,  "  You  are  the 
nicest,  most  refined,  and  most  lovable  girl  in  the 
world  if  you  are  a  crank."  Was  n't  that  a  nice 
beginning  for  a  proposal  of  marriage?  I  accepted 
them  both  on  condition  that  I  be  allowed  to  remain 
a  crank. 

Well,  the  next  chapter  began  with  an  old  lover 
who  had  married  another  woman.  He  came  to 
see  me  and  said  he  had  a  tape-worm !  Ye  gods  — 
such  romance!  His  wife  had  stomach  and  intes- 
tinal trouble.    I  turned  Mr.  X over  to  them, 

and  them  over  to   Mr.  X .     The  lady  got 

along,  but  the  poor  man  with  a  wild  beast  inside 
him  got  so  sick  after  an  eight-day  fast  that  he 
wanted  to  have  me  mobbed,  sent  for  two  trained 
nurses  and  four  doctors  —  this  is  no  exaggeration 
—  the  doctors  looked  at  me,  and  looks  were  as 
plain  as  words  —  "  You  little  devil !  You  did  it 
for  pure  meanness."  For  three  days  my  poor 
friend  had  the  doctors  giving  him  hypodermics, 
and  he  never  stopped  vomiting  until  we  were  all 
nearly  dead.  Then  he  quieted  down,  got  well, 
ate  a  beef-steak  with  a  few  dozen  oysters  and 
mushrooms,  and  took  me  riding  in  his  new  auto- 
mobile. The  grim  humor  in  the  whole  thing  is 
that  if  I  had  not  gotten  my  roses  and  dimples  and 
curves  and  bright  eyes  back  by  fasting,  this  man 
would  never  have  taken  me  riding  in  his  new  auto- 
mobile. Take  a  tip  from  me  —  all  the  good  nurs- 
ing and  friendly  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  health 
of  my  friends  did  not  endear  me  to  them  one  half 
as  much  as  the  plump,  rosy  smile  I  wore  with  my 


A  SYMPOSIUM  ON  FASTING  8 1 

new  silk  gown.  The  first  day  our  sick  friend  went 
out  in  his  car  —  alas  for  the  ways  of  human  nature 
—  masculine  human  nature,  I  mean  —  I  told  him 
so.  And  he  agreed  with  me  and  ended  by  say- 
ing, "  Darn  an  ugly  woman  —  I  '11  forgive  a  pretty 
one  anything" 

Diet  after  the  Fast 

Many  people  write  me,  begging  me  to  outline 
for  them  the  ideal  diet.  I  used  to  do  that  sort  of 
thing,  but  I  have  stopped;  having  come  to  realize 
that  we  are  still  at  the  beginning  of  our  diet- 
experiments.  I  have  done  a  good  deal  of  experi- 
menting myself,  and  have  made  some  interesting 
discoveries.  I  have  lived  for  a  week  on  fruit  only, 
and  again  on  wheat  only;  I  have  lived  for  three 
weeks  on  nothing  but  milk,  and  again  on  nothing 
but  beef-steak.  I  have  lived  for  a  year  on  raw 
food,  and  for  over  three  years  I  professed  the  re- 
ligion of  vegetarianism.  For  the  last  two  months 
I  have  lived  on  beef-steak,  shredded  wheat,  raisins 
and  fresh  fruit;  but  by  the  time  this  book  ap- 
pears I  may  be  trying  sour  milk  and  dates  — 
somebody  told  me  about  that  the  other  day,  and 
it  sounds  good  to  me.  Some  of  my  correspondents 
object  to  my  willingness  to  try  new  diets;  they 
write  me  that  they  find  it  bewildering,  and  think  it 
indicative   of  an  unstable  mind.     They  do  not 


82  THE   FASTING   CURE 

realize  that  I  am  exacting  in  my  demands  —  I 
want  a  diet  which  will  permit  me  to  overwork  with 
impunity.  I  have  n't  found  it  yet,  but  I  am  on  the 
way;  and  meantime  I  make  my  experiments  with 
a  light  heart,  for  I  always  know  that  if  anything 
goes  wrong,  I  can  take  a  fast  and  start  afresh. 

The  general  rules  are  mostly  of  a  negative  sort. 
There  are  many  kinds  of  foods,  some  of  them 
most  generally  favored,  of  which  one  may  say  that 
they  should  never  be  used,  and  that  those  who 
use  them  can  never  be  as  well  as  they  would  be 
without  them.  Such  foods  are  all  that  contain 
alcohol  or  vinegar;  all  that  contain  cane  sugar; 
all  that  contain  white  flour  in  any  one  of  its  thou- 
sand alluring  forms  of  bread,  crackers,  pie,  cake, 
and  puddings;  and  all  foods  that  have  been  fried 
—  by  which  I  mean  cooked  with  grease,  whether 
that  grease  be  lard,  or  butter,  or  eggs  or  milk. 
It  is  my  conviction  that  one  should  bar  these  things 
at  the  outset,  and  admit  of  no  exceptions.  I  do 
not  mean  to  say  that  healthy  men  and  women 
cannot  eat  such  things  and  be  well ;  but  I  say  that 
they  cannot  be  as  well  as  they  would  be  without 
them;  and  that  every  particle  of  such  food  they 
eat  renders  them  more  liable  to  all  sorts  of  in- 
fection, and  sows  in  their  systems  the  seeds  of  the 
particular  chronic  disease  that  is  to  lay  them  low 
sooner  or  later. 


A   SYMPOSIUM   ON   FASTING  83 

There  are  a  number  of  other  things,  which  I 
do  not  rate  as  quite  so  bad,  but  which  we  bar  in 
our  family  —  simply  because  they  are  not  so 
good.  For  instance,  I  am  inclined  to  regard  beans 
as  being  too  difficult  of  digestion  and  too  liable  to 
fermentation  to  be  eaten  by  any  one  who  can  get 
anything  better.  And  I  personally  do  not  eat 
peanuts,  because  I  have  found  that  I  do  not  digest 
them;  and  I  do  not  use  milk  (except  in  the  exclu- 
sive milk  diet),  because  it  is  constipating,  and  I 
have  a  tendency  in  that  direction.  Almost  every- 
one will  discover  idiosyncrasies  of  that  sort  in  his 
own  system.  One  person  cannot  digest  cheese, 
another  cannot  digest  bananas,  another  cannot 
stand  the  taste  of  olive  oil.  You  may  read  a  glow- 
ing account  of  some  diet  system  by  which  some 
other  person  has  worked  miracles,  and  you  may 
try  it,  and  persist  in  it  for  a  long  time,  and  finally 
come  to  realize  that  it  was  the  worst  diet  you 
could  possibly  have  been  following.  I  have 
always  counted  orange  juice  as  the  ideal  food 
with  which  to  break  a  fast;  yet  a  friend  whom  I 
was  advising  broke  his  fast  with  the  juice  of  half 
an  orange,  and  had  a  violent  cramp.  He  had 
been  so  confiding  in  my  greater  knowledge  that 
he  had  omitted  to  tell  me  that  any  sort  of  acid 
fruit  had  always  made  him  ill. 

Such  things  as  this  are  of  course  not  natural; 


84  THE   FASTING   CURE 

but  a  perfectly  normal  and  well  person  is,  under 
the  artificial  conditions  of  our  bringing  up,  a  very 
great  rarity;  and  so  we  all  have  to  regard  our- 
selves as  more  or  less  diseased,  and  work  towards 
the  ideal  of  soundness.  We  must  do  this  with 
intelligence  —  there  is  no  short  cut,  no  way  to 
save  one's  self  the  trouble  of  thinking. 

I  used  to  think  there  was.  I  would  discover 
this  or  that  wonderful  new  diet-wrinkle,  and  I 
would  go  round  preaching  it  to  all  my  friends, 
and  making  a  general  nuisance  of  myself.  And 
some  one  would  try  it,  and  it  would  not  work; 
and  often,  to  my  own  humiliation,  I  would  dis- 
cover that  it  was  not  working  in  my  own  case 
half  so  well  as  I  had  thought  it  was. 

By  way  of  setting  an  ideal,  let  me  give  you 
the  example  of  a  young  lady  who  for  six  or  seven 
months  has  been  living  in  our  home,  and  giving 
us  a  chance  to  observe  her  dietetic  habits.  This 
young  lady  three  years  ago  was  an  anaemic  school- 
teacher, threatened  with  consumption,  and  a  vic- 
tim of  continual  colds  and  headaches;  miserable 
and  beaten,  with  an  exopthalmic  goitre  which  was 
slowly  choking  her  to  death.  She  fasted  eight 
days,  and  achieved  a  perfect  cure.  She  is  to-day 
bright,  alert  and  athletic;  and  she  lives  on  about 
twelve  hundred  calories  of  food  a  day  —  one  half 
what  I  eat,  and  less  than  a  third  of  the  old-school 


A   SYMPOSIUM   ON   FASTING  85 

dietetic  standards.  Occasionally  she  will  eat  nut 
butter,  or  sweet  potato,  or  some  whole  wheat 
crackers  with  butter,  or  a  dish  of  ice-cream;  but 
at  least  ninety  per  cent  of  her  food  has  consisted 
of  fresh  fruit.  Meal  after  meal,  day  after  day, 
I  have  seen  her  eat  one  or  two  bananas  and  two 
or  three  peaches,  or  say,  a  slice  of  watermelon  or 
canteloupe;  at  some  meals  she  will  eat  only  the 
peaches,  and  then  again  she  will  eat  nothing.  A 
dollar  a  week  would  pay  for  all  her  food;  and 
on  this  diet  she  laughs  and  talks,  reads  and  thinks, 
walks  and  swims  with  my  wife  and  myself  —  a 
kind  of  external  dietetic  conscience,  which  we 
would  find  it  hard  to  get  along  without.  And  tell 
me,  Dr.  Woods  Hutchinson,  or  other  scoffer  at 
the  "  food-faddists,"  don't  you  think  that  a  case 
like  this  gives  us  some  right  to  ask  for  patient 
investigation  of  our  claims?  Or  will  you  stand  by 
your  pill  boxes  and  your  carving-knives  and  the 
rest  of  your  paraphernalia,  and  compel  us  to  cure 
all  your  patients  in  spite  of  you? 


86  THE   FASTING   CURE 


THE   USE    OF    MEAT 

I  am  asked  many  questions  as  to  my  attitude 
toward  the  question  of  meat-eating.  I  was 
brought  up  on  a  diet  of  meat,  bread  and  butter, 
potatoes,  and  sweet  things.  Four  years  ago  when 
I  found  myself  desperately  run  down,  suffering 
from  nervousness,  insomnia,  and  almost  incessant 
headaches,  I  came  upon  various  articles  written 
by  vegetarians,  and  I  began  to  suspect  that  my 
trouble  might  be  due  to  meat.  I  went  away  on 
a  camping-trip  for  several  weeks,  taking  no  meat 
with  me,  and  because  I  found  that  I  was  a  great 
deal  better,  I  believed  that  the  meat  had  been 
responsible  for  my  trouble.  I  then  visited  the 
Battle  Creek  Sanitarium,  and  became  familiar 
with  all  their  arguments  against  meat,  and  there- 
after I  did  not  use  it  for  three  years.  I  called 
myself  a  vegetarian;  but  at  the  same  time  I  real- 
ized that  I  differed  from  most  vegetarians  in  some 
important  particulars. 

For  instance,  I  had  never  taken  any  stock  in 
the  arguments  for  vegetarianism  upon  the  moral 
side.     It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  human 


THE   USE   OF   MEAT  87 

beings  have  a  right  to  eat  meat,  if  meat  is  neces- 
sary for  their  best  development,  either  physical 
or  mental.  I  have  never  had  any  sympathy  with 
that  "  humanitarianism  "  which  tells  us  that  it  is 
our  duty  to  regard  pigs  and  chickens  as  our 
brothers.  I  was  listening  the  other  day  to  one 
of  these  enthusiasts,  who  had  been  reading  aloud 
one  of  the  "  Uncle  Remus  "  stories,  and  who  went 
on  in  touching  language  to  set  forth  the  fact  that 
his  vegetable  garden  constituted  one  place  where 
"  Bre'r  Rabbit  "  was  free  to  wander  at  will  and 
to  help  himself;  and  he  described  how  happy  it 
made  him  to  see  these  gentle  animals  hopping 
about  among  his  cabbages,  having  lost  all  their 
fear  of  him.  That  sort  of  thing  will  work  very 
well  so  long  as  it  is  confined  to  one  farm,  and  so 
long  as  there  is  a  hunting  season  upon  all  the 
other  farms  in  the  locality;  but  let  the  humani- 
tarians proceed  to  apply  their  regimen  in  a  whole 
state,  and  they  will  soon  have  so  many  billions  of 
rabbits  hopping  about  among  their  cabbages  that 
they  will  have  to  choose  between  shooting  rabbits 
or  having  no  cabbages. 

The  reader,  I  presume,  is  familiar  with  calcu- 
lations which  show  the  rate  at  which  rabbits  mul- 
tiply, how  many  tens  and  hundreds  of  millions 
would  be  produced  by  a  single  pair  of  rabbits  in 
ten  years.     It  should  be  quite  obvious  that  the 


88  THE   FASTING   CURE 

time  would  come  when  all  human  beings  would 
be  spending  their  energies  in  planting  gardens  to 
support  rabbits;  and  that  if  ever  they  stopped 
planting  gardens,  there  would  be  a  famine  for  the 
rabbits,  with  infinitely  more  suffering  than  is  in- 
volved in  the  present  method  of  keeping  them 
down.  Also,  even  though  the  humanitarians 
might  have  their  way  with  men,  the  hawks  and 
the  owls  and  the  foxes  would  probably  remain 
unregenerate.  I  remember,  when  I  was  a  small 
boy,  being  sternly  rebuked  by  an  agitated  maiden 
lady  who  discovered  me  throwing  stones  at  a 
squirrel.  Not  so  many  days  afterwards,  however, 
the  lady  discovered  the  squirrel  engaged  in  carry- 
ing off  young  birds  from  a  nest  outside  her  win- 
dow, and  she  found  her  theories  about  "  kindness 
to  dumb  animals  "  rudely  disturbed. 

The  same  thing,  it  seems  to  me,  is  still  more 
true  of  domestic  animals.  Domestic  animals  sur- 
vive on  earth  solely  because  of  the  protection  of 
man,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  benefits  they  bring 
to  him.  If  it  is  necessary  to  human  health  and 
well-being  to  slaughter  a  cow  rather  than  to  wait 
and  let  her  die  of  old  age  and  lingering  disease,  it 
seems  to  me  that  nothing  but  mawkish  sentimen- 
tality would  protest. 

It  is  pointed  out  to  us  what  places  of  cruelty 
and  filth  our  slaughter-houses  are ;  the  reader  may 


THE   USE   OF   MEAT  89 

believe  that  I  learned  something  about  this  in  my 
preparations  for  the  writing  of  "  The  Jungle." 
But  then  this  is  not  necessarily  true  about 
slaughter-houses  —  any  more  than  it  is  necessarily 
true  that  railroads  must  kill  and  maim  a  couple  of 
hundred  thousand  people  in  this  country  every 
year.  In  Europe  they  have  municipal  slaughter- 
houses which  are  constructed  upon  scientific  lines, 
and  in  which  no  filth  is  permitted  to  accumulate; 
also  they  have  devised  means  for  the  killing  of 
animals  which  are  painless.  In  the  stockyards 
I  have  seen  a  man  standing  upon  a  gallery,  lean- 
ing over  and  pounding  at  the  head  of  a  steer  with 
a  hammer,  and  making  half  a  dozen  blows  before 
he  succeeded  in  knocking  down  the  terrified  ani- 
mal. In  Europe,  on  the  other  hand,  they  fit  over 
the  head  of  the  animal  a  leathern  cap,  which  has 
in  it  a  steel  spike;  a  single  tap  upon  the  head  of 
this  spike  is  sufficient  to  drive  it  into  the  animal's 
brain,  causing  instant  insensibility. 

And  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  also  that  the  suf- 
ferings of  dumb  animals  are  entirely  different 
from  our  own.  They  do  not  suffer  the  pains  of  an- 
ticipation. A  cow  walks  into  a  slaughter-house 
without  fear,  and  stands  still  and  permits  a  leath- 
ern cap  to  be  fitted  over  its  head  without  suspicion; 
and  while  it  is  placidly  grazing  in  the  field,  it  is 
untroubled  by  any  consciousness  of  the  fact  that 


90  THE   FASTING   CURE 

next  week  it  will  be  hanging  in  a  butcher's  shop 
as  beef.  I  recall  in  this  connection  an  observation 
of  that  wise  philosopher,  Mr.  Dooley,  concerning 
the  inhumanities  of  vegetarianism.  He  said  that 
it  had  always  seemed  to  him  a  very  cruel  thing 
"  to  cut  off  a  young  tomato  in  its  prime,  or  to 
murder  a  whole  cradle  full  of  baby  peas  in  the 
pod." 

These  things  will  convince  the  devotee  of  the 
religion  of  vegetarianism  that  I  am  a  lost  soul, 
and  always  have  been.  Perhaps  so.  I  try  to 
guide  my  conduct  by  scientific  knowledge;  what 
I  ask  to  know  about  the  question  of  meat-eating 
is  the  actual  facts  of  its  effect  upon  the  human 
organism  —  the  amount  of  energy  which  it  devel- 
ops, the  diseases  which  it  causes,  or,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  immunity  to  disease  which  it  claims  to 
confer;  also,  of  course,  its  cheapness  and  con- 
venience as  an  article  of  diet.  Some  evidence  of 
this  sort  we  possess;  but  very  little,  it  seems  to 
me,  in  proportion  to  the  importance  of  the  sub- 
ject. Professor  Fisher  has  conducted  some  thor- 
ough experiments  as  to  the  influence  of  meat- 
eating  upon  endurance,  which  seem  to  develop  the 
fact  that  vegetarians  possess  a  far  greater  amount 
of  endurance  than  meat-eaters.  These  experi- 
ments are  what  we  want,  but  they  seemed  to  me, 
when  I  read  them,  to  be  weak  in  one  or  two  im- 


THE    USE   OF   MEAT  9 1 

portant  particulars.  They  did  not  tell  us  what  the 
vegetarians  ate,  nor  what  the  meat-eaters  ate. 
Those  who  are  vegetarians  at  the  present  day  are 
very  apt  to  be  people  who  have  given  some  thought 
to  the  question  of  diet,  and  have  attempted  to 
adopt  sounder  ways  of  life;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  meat-eaters  are  generally  people  who  have 
given  no  thought  to  the  question  of  health  at  all 
—  they  are  very  apt  to  be  smokers  and  drinkers  as 
well  as  meat-eaters.  Also  it  is  to  be  pointed  out 
that  endurance  is  not  the  only  factor  of  impor- 
tance to  our  physical  well-being. 

There  have  been  numerous  expositions  of  the 
greater  liability  of  meat  to  contamination.  Dr. 
Kellogg,  for  instance,  has  purchased  specimens  of 
meat  in  the  butcher-shops,  and  has  had  them  ex- 
amined under  the  microscope,  and  has  told  us  how 
many  hundreds  of  millions  of  bacteria  to  the  gram 
have  been  discovered.  This  argument  has  a  ten- 
dency to  appal  one;  I  know  it  had  great  effect 
upon  me  for  a  long  time,  and  I  took  elaborate 
pains  to  take  into  my  system  only  those  kinds  of 
food  which  were  sterilized,  or  practically  so.  This 
is  the  health  regimen  which  is  advocated  by  Pro- 
fessor Metchnikoff ;  one  should  eat  only  foods 
which  have  been  thoroughly  boiled  and  sterilized. 
I  have  come,  in  the  course  of  time,  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  this  way  of  living  is  suicidal,  and  that 


92  THE   FASTING   CURE 

there  is  no  way  of  destroying  one's  health  more 
quickly.  I  think  that  the  important  question  is, 
not  how  many  bacteria  there  are  in  the  food  when 
you  swallow  it,  but  how  many  bacteria  there  come 
to  be  in  food  after  it  gets  into  your  alimentary 
canal.  The  digestive  juices  are  apparently  able 
to  take  care  of  a  very  great  number  of  germs;  it 
is  after  the  food  has  passed  on  down,  and  is 
lodged  in  the  large  intestine,  that  the  real  fermen- 
tation and  putrefaction  begin  —  and  these  count 
for  more,  in  the  question  of  health,  than  that 
which  goes  on  in  the  butcher-shop  or  the  refriger- 
ator or  the  pantry. 

Do  not  misunderstand  what  I  mean  by  this.  I 
am  not  advocating  that  anyone  should  swallow  the 
bacteria  of  deadly  diseases,  such  as  typhoid  and 
cholera ;  I  am  not  advocating  that  anyone  should 
use  food  which  is  in  a  state  of  decomposition  — 
on  the  contrary,  I  have  ruled  out  of  my  dietary  a 
number  of  foods  in  common  use  which  depend 
for  their  production  upon  bacterial  action;  for 
instance,  beer  and  wine,  and  all  alcoholic  drinks, 
all  kinds  of  cheeses,  sauerkraut,  vinegar,  etc.  My 
point  is  simply  that  the  ordinary  healthy  person 
has  no  reason  for  terrifying  himself  about  the 
common  aerobic  bacteria  —  which  swarm  in  the 
atmosphere,  and  are  found  by  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions in  all  raw  food,  and  in  cooked  food  which 


THE   USE   OF  MEAT  93 

has  not  been  kept  with  the  elaborate  precautions 
that  a  surgeon  uses  with  his  instruments  and  linen ; 
also  that  the  real  problem  is  to  take  into  the  sys- 
tem those  foods  which  can  be  readily  digested  and 
assimilated,  and  which  afford  the  body  all  the 
elements  that  it  needs  to  keep  itself  in  the  best 
condition  for  the  inevitable,  incessant  warfare  with 
the  hostile  organisms  which  surround  it. 

So  far  as  meat  is  concerned,  of  course  no  sen- 
sible person  would  use  meat  which  showed  the 
slightest  trace  of  being  spoiled,  nor  any  meat 
which  had  been  canned,  or  ground  up  and  made 
into  messes,  such  as  sausage.  If  one  uses  reason- 
ably fresh  meat,  the  bacteria  which  may  be  on  the 
outside  of  it  will  be  killed  by  proper  cooking. 
And  so  the  question  is,  it  seems  to  me,  what 
does  meat  do  after  it  gets  into  the  stomach? 
And  that  is  a  matter  for  practical  experiment, 
which  very  few  people  have  made,  so  far  as  I 
have  any  information.  Innumerable  people  are 
eating  meat,  of  course;  but  they  are  eating  it 
in  combination  with  all  other  kinds  of  destruc- 
tive foods,  and  they  are  eating  it  prepared  in 
innumerable  unwholesome  ways.  So  far  as  I 
know,  no  scientist  has  ever  taken  a  group  of 
normal  men  and  kept  them  for  a  certain  period 
upon  a  rational  vegetarian  diet,  and  then  put 
them  for  another  period  upon  a  diet  containing 


94  THE   FASTING   CURE 

broiled  fresh  meat,  and  made  a  thoroughly  sci- 
entific study  of  their  condition,  as,  for  instance, 
Professor  Chittenden  did  for  his  "  low  prote'id  " 
experiments. 

For  about  a  year  previous  to  reading  about 
Dr.  Salisbury's  "  meat  diet,"  I  had  been  follow- 
ing the  raw-food  regimen.  I  had  gained  won- 
derful results  from  this,  and  I  had  written  a 
good  deal  about  it;  but  I  had  got  these  results 
while  leading  an  active  life,  and  not  doing  hard 
brain-work.  I  found  continually  that  when  I 
settled  down  to  a  sedentary  life,  and  to  writing 
which  involved  a  great  nervous  strain,  I  began  to 
lose  weight  on  raw  food;  and  if  I  kept  on  with 
this  regimen,  I  would  begin  to  have  headaches, 
and  other  signs  of  distress  from  what  I  was  eat- 
ing. As  an  illustration  of  what  I  mean,  I  might 
say  that  quite  recently  I  plunged  into  a  novel  in 
which  I  was  very  much  absorbed,  and  I  lost  twelve 
pounds  in  sixteen  days;  and  this,  it  must  be 
understood,  without  changing  my  diet  in  the 
slightest  particular.  I  went  on  with  the  work  for 
about  six  weeks,  and  by  that  time  I  had  lost 
twenty  pounds.  In  explaining  this  to  myself,  I 
was  divided  between  uncertainty  as  to  whether 
I  was  working  too  hard,  or  whether  I  was  eating 
too  much.  Finally  I  took  the  precaution  to  weigh 
what  I  was  eating,  and  to  make  quite  certain  that 


THE   USE  OF  MEAT  95 

I  was  eating  no  more  than  I  had  been  accustomed 
to  eat  during  periods  when  I  had  remained  at 
my  normal  weight.  I  then  cut  the  quantity  of  my 
food  in  half,  and  found  that  I  lost  much  less 
rapidly.  This  served  to  convince  me  that  the 
trouble  lay  in  the  fact  that  I  had  not  sufficient 
nervous  energy  left  to  assimilate  the  food  that 
I  was  taking. 

And  I  have  known  others  to  have  this  same 
experience.  Bernarr  Macfadden,  in  particular, 
told  me  that  he  could  not  get  along  upon  the  nut 
and  fruit  diet  while  closely  confined  in  his  office, 
and  that  he  found  the  solution  of  his  problem  in 
milk.  Inasmuch  as  there  is  nothing  that  poisons 
me  quite  so  quickly  as  milk,  I  had  to  look  farther 
for  my  solution.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  had  been 
looking  for  this  solution  for  more  than  ten  years, 
though  it  is  only  quite  recently  that  I  had  come 
to  understand  the  problem  clearly.  It  is  a  prob- 
lem which  every  brain-worker  faces;  and  I  am 
sure,  therefore,  that  there  will  be  many  who  will 
find  the  report  of  my  experiments  and  blunders 
to  be  of  interest  to  them.  I  have  tried,  under 
these  circumstances,  all  kinds  of  the  more  diges- 
tible foods  —  toast,  rice,  baked  potatoes,  baked 
apples,  milk,  poached  eggs,  and  so  on;  always 
I  have  found  that  these  foods  digested  perfectly, 
but  they  poisoned  my  system  because  of  their  con- 


g6  THE  FASTING   CURE 

stipating  effect;  and  this  was  a  dilemma  which 
I  was  never  able  to  get  around. 

I  now  read  Dr.  Salisbury's  book,  "  The  Rela- 
tion of  Alimentation  to  Disease."  Many  of  his 
experiments  I  found  extremely  interesting.  Dr. 
Salisbury  described  the  consequences  of  the  ordi- 
nary starch  and  sugar  diet  as  making  a  "  yeast- 
pot  "  of  one's  intestinal  tract.  I  found  in  my  own 
case  many  of  the  symptoms  which  he  described, 
and  I  determined  to  see  what  would  be  the  effect 
of  the  meat  diet  in  my  case. 

I  began  the  experiment  with  reluctance.  I  had 
lost  all  interest  in  the  taste  of  meat,  and  I  had  a 
prejudice  against  it;  I  hated  the  smell  of  it,  and 
I  hated  the  feeling  of  it,  and  I  was  prepared  for 
the  direst  consequences,  according  to  the  prophe- 
cies of  my  vegetarian  friends.  I  should  not  have 
been  at  all  surprised  if  I  had  been  made  very  ill 
by  my  first  meal.  I  was  prepared  to  allow  for 
that,  supposing  that  after  three  years  I  had  per- 
haps forgotten  how  to  digest  meat.  To  my  sur- 
prise, however,  I  found  no  difficulty  at  all.  I  soon 
gave  up  preparing  the  meat  according  to  the  elab- 
orate prescription  of  Dr.  Salisbury,  and  contented 
myself  simply  with  eating  good  lean  beef-steak. 
I  continued  the  experiment  for  two  weeks,  living 
upon  meat  exclusively.  I  found  that  all  my  symp- 
toms of  stomach  trouble  disappeared,  and  I  had 


THE    USE   OF   MEAT  97 

no  headaches  whatever.  I  got  quite  weak  upon 
the  exclusive  diet,  but  this  was  according  to  Dr. 
Salisbury's  statement;  just  as  soon  as  I  added  a 
little  shredded  wheat  biscuit  and  dried  fruit  to 
the  menu  this  trouble  disappeared,  and  I  gained 
in  weight  with  great  rapidity,  and  was  soon  back 
where  I  had  been  before. 

I  did  not  continue  the  diet,  owing  partly  to  dis- 
taste for  it,  and  partly  to  the  inconvenience  of  it. 
I  had  accustomed  myself  to  the  raw  food  way  of 
living,  and  any  one  who  knows  what  this  means 
can  understand  my  distaste  for  washing  plates 
and  scraping  frying-pans,  and  going  to  the  bother 
of  getting  fresh  meat  and  keeping  it  and  cooking 
it.  Also,  of  course,  there  was  the  item  of  expense. 
Upon  the  raw-food  diet  I  had  been  able  to  live 
for  ten  cents  a  day.  I  am  never  accustomed 
to  spending  more  than  thirty  or  forty  cents  a 
day,  even  when  indulging  in  abundant  fresh 
fruit. 

Perhaps  I  ought  also  to  specify  that  a  good 
deal  of  the  success  of  the  diet  may  have  been 
owing  to  the  hot-water  regimen  which  is  a  part 
of  it.  An  hour  or  two  before  every  meal  one  is 
supposed  to  sip  at  least  a  pint  of  very  hot  water, 
which  has  the  effect  of  cleansing  out  the  stomach, 
and  stimulates  peristaltic  action  to  a  remarkable 
degree.     I  had  been   accustomed  to   drink  hot 


98  THE   FASTING   CURE 

water  while  fasting,  but  I  had  never  taken  it  sys- 
tematically, as  I  did  at  this  time.  It  is  a  trick 
well  worth  knowing  about. 

I  ought  also  to  mention  the  fact  that  I  sug- 
gested to  several  others  that  they  try  this  meat 
diet.  One  of  them,  a  friend  who  had  been  eating 
raw  food  at  my  suggestion,  with  the  very  best 
results,  began  the  experiment  and  continued  for 
three  days,  and  the  results  were  most  disappoint- 
ing. This  friend,  a  woman  in  middle  years,  be- 
came very  ill,  with  all  the  symptoms  of  stomach 
trouble,  diarrhoea,  and  general  poisoning.  She 
wrote  me  that  she  gave  up  the  diet  at  the  end  of 
three  days,  because  she  saw  no  use  in  making  her- 
self desperately  ill.  She  added:  "  I  followed  the 
regimen  in  every  smallest  detail,  precisely  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Salisbury's  direction.  You  know  me, 
and  you  know  that  when  I  do  a  thing  I  do  it  thor- 
oughly, so  there  is  no  need  to  say  any  more  about 
that."  Which  only  goes  to  show  that,  as  the 
proverb  has  it,  M  One  man's  meat  is  another  man's 
poison." 

Dr.  Salisbury  recommends  the  meat  diet  espe- 
cially in  cases  of  tuberculosis.  He  finds  that  the 
predisposing  cause  of  this  disease  is  "  vegetable 
fermentation."  He  declares  that  the  excessive 
starch  and  sugar  diet  leads  to  the  production  of 
yeast  spores  and  other  ferments  in  the  intestinal 


THE    USE   OF   MEAT  99 

tract,  and  that  these  are  absorbed  into  the  circula- 
tion and  ultimately  clog  the  small  capillaries  in 
the  lungs.  Dr.  Salisbury's  theory  was  set  forth 
over  thirty  years  ago,  and  that  was  before  Koch 
had  made  his  discovery  of  the  tubercle  bacillus. 
This  discovery  would  seem  to  put  Dr.  Salisbury's 
theory  out  of  court  altogether;  but  as  we  physical 
culturists  are  inclined  to  suspect,  there  are  causes 
of  disease  lying  behind  the  attack  of  the  specific 
bacillus.  These  causes  are  a  depleted  blood  supply 
and  a  weakened  system;  and  it  seems  to  me,  from 
what  I  have  observed  of  consumptives  and  their 
diet,  that  Dr.  Salisbury's  theories  fit  in  very  well 
indeed  with  the  Koch  theory. 

I  wrote  recently  to  Professor  Chittenden  to  ask 
him  what,  in  his  opinion,  would  be  the  effects  of 
the  meat  diet  upon  tuberculosis.  He  replied  that 
he  knew  no  reason  for  believing  that  it  would  be 
of  special  benefit  but  that  the  whole  subject  of  diet 
in  tuberculosis  seemed  to  him  to  be  one  concern- 
ing which  there  was  urgent  need  of  experiment 
and  investigation.  This  is  unquestionably  the 
case.  I  know  no  two  physicians  who  seem  to 
agree  in  the  diets  they  prescribe  to  consumptives, 
and  I  have  never  met  two  consumptives  who  fol- 
lowed the  same  regimen.  The  general  idea  seems 
to  be  to  stuff  as  much  food  in  your  system  as  you 
possibly  can,  especially  milk  and  raw  eggs;    and 


IOO  THE   FASTING    CURE 

it  seems  to  me  quite  certain  that,  whatever  system 
may  be  correct,  this  system  is  incorrect. 

This  much  seems  to  me  to  be  clear :  tuberculosis 
is  a  disease  brought  about  by  under-nourishment. 
It  is  a  disease  to  which  the  poor  are  especially 
liable;  and  while  this  is  undoubtedly  in  part  due 
to  bad  air,  it  is  also  due  to  bad  feeding.  And 
when  ignorant  people  wish  to  live  cheaply,  the 
foods  they  eat  are  the  sugar  and  starch  foods. 
I  remember  in  Thoreau's  "  Walden "  he  sets 
forth  how  he  lived  for  many  months  upon  five 
or  six  dollars'  worth  of  food.  He  does  not  give 
the  amount  of  the  food  by  weight,  so  of  course 
we  cannot  tell  exactly;  but  he  gives  the  prices 
he  paid,  and  the  leading  articles  in  his  diet 
were  flour,  rice,  corn-meal,  molasses,  sugar  and 
lard.  One  is,  therefore,  perfectly  prepared  to 
learn  that  Thoreau  died  of  consumption.  And 
the  same  thing,  I  believe,  will  happen  to  a  good 
many  enthusiastic  vegetarians  of  my  acquaintance. 
They  have  given  up  meat,  and  they  have  made  up 
for  it  by  increasing  their  consumption  of  bread  and 
crackers,  rice  and  potatoes,  and  prepared  and  pre- 
digested  cereals,  which  they  eat  with  cream  and 
sugar.  Even  when  they  use  high  proteid  food,  it 
is  in  some  form  such  as  beans,  which  contain  a 
great  deal  of  starch,  and  in  a  form  which  is  diffi- 
cult of  digestion.     As  a  result  of  this,  they  are 


THE    USE   OF   MEAT  IOI 

thin  and  anaemic  looking  —  they  do  not  seem  to 
be  able  to  put  on  flesh  by  means  of  intellectual 
fervor  and  an  optimistic  philosophy.  The  result 
of  my  meat-diet  experiment  has  been  to  convince 
me  yet  more  firmly  that  the  cooked-vegetable  diet 
is  the  worst  diet  in  the  world  for  myself.  (I  am 
content  to  phrase  it  that  way,  and  leave  it  for 
others  to  find  out  about  their  own  case.)  There 
has  been  some  agitation  in  vegetarian  circles  since 
the  report  has  gone  around  that  I  have  become  a 
backslider,  and  have  gone  back  to  the  flesh-pots. 
I  state  the  facts  here  for  what  they  may  be  worth 
to  others.  I  shall  never  call  myself  a  "  vege- 
tarian "  again  —  though  I  shall  be  a  vegetarian 
the  greater  part  of  the  time. 

For  it  should  be  noted,  of  course,  that  the  ob- 
jections which  I  have  brought  against  the  cooked 
vegetarian  diet  do  not  apply  at  all  to  the  raw-food 
diet,  which  is  entirely  a  different  matter.  If  one 
lives  upon  nuts,  whole  grains  boiled  or  shredded, 
salad  vegetables  and  fruits,  he  does  not  get  an 
excess  of  either  starch  or  sugar,  but  a  perfectly 
balanced  dietary,  every  article  of  which  is  rich  in 
natural  salts  —  in  which  the  starchy  foods,  and 
especially  the  prepared  cereals,  are  fatally  defi- 
cient. Such  a  diet  can  be  followed  by  any  person 
in  normal  health,  who  is  leading  a  physically  active 
life.    I  have  known  a  number  of  people,  old  and 


102  THE   FASTING   CURE 

young,  to  start  out  upon  this  way  of  life  without 
any  preliminaries,  and  they  have  noted  a  great 
gain  in  health  and  efficiency,  and  have  had  no 
trouble  of  any  sort.  This  diet  is  as  cheap  as  the 
bean  and  white  flour  and  rice  diet  of  the  ordinary 
"vegetarian,"  and  it  is,' by  all  odds,  the  simplest 
and  most  convenient  diet  in  the  world. 

I  have  been  accustomed  all  my  life  to  think  of 
meat  as  a  very  "  heavy  "  article  of  food,  an  ar- 
ticle of  food  suited  for  men  doing  hard  physical 
labor;  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  view  I  am 
setting  forth  here  is  precisely  the  opposite.  So 
long  as  I  am  doing  hard  physical  labor,  whether 
it  is  walking  ten  miles  a  day,  or  playing  tennis,  or 
building  a  house,  I  get  along  perfectly  upon  the 
raw  food;  but  when  I  settle  down  for  long  pe- 
riods of  thinking  and  writing  —  often  sitting  for 
six  hours  without  moving  from  one  position  —  I 
find  that  I  need  something  else,  and  nothing  has 
answered  that  purpose  quite  so  well  as  beef-steak. 
It  appears  to  be,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  the 
most  easily  digested  and  most  easily  assimilated 
of  foods.  And  because  the  work  that  I  am  doing 
seems  to  me  to  be  important,  I  am  willing  to  make 
the  sacrifice  of  money  and  time  and  trouble  which 
it  necessitates.  My  diet  at  such  times  will  consist 
of  beef  or  chicken,  shredded  wheat  biscuit,  and  a 
little  fruit.     If  any  one  is  disposed  to  follow  my 


THE   USE   OF   MEAT  IO3 

example  and  make  this  experiment,  I  beg  to  call 
his  attention  especially  to  the  fact  that  I  name 
these  three  kinds  of  food,  and  none  others;  and 
that  I  mean  these  three  kinds  and  none  others. 
The  main  trouble  with  advising  anybody  to  eat 
meat  is  that  he  proceeds  to  eat  it  in  the  every- 
day world,  where  it  means  not  the  eating  of 
broiled  lean  beef,  but  also  of  bacon  and  eggs,  and 
of  bread  and  butter,  and  of  potatoes  with  cream 
gravy,  and  of  rice  pudding  and  crackers  and  cheese 
and  coffee.  Please  do  not  proceed  to  eat  these 
things  and  then  hold  meat-eating  responsible  for 
the  consequences. 

I  do  not  for  a  moment  wish  to  give  the  im- 
pression that  I  believe  that  meat-eating  is  neces- 
sary to  a  normally  active  person,  or  that  humanity 
will  always  continue  to  eat  meat.  No  invention 
of  science  can  ever  make  meat  as  cheap  a  food  as 
nuts  and  fruit,  and  nothing  can  ever  make  it  as 
beautiful  or  attractive  a  food,  nor  as  clean  a  food, 
nor  as  easily  prepared  a  food.  I  believe  that 
children  can  be  brought  up  without  knowing  the 
taste  of  meat,  and  can  be  trained  to  lead  normal 
and  active  lives  from  the  very  beginning,  and  can 
live  on  the  raw-food  diet  and  thrive.  What  I  am 
discussing  here  are  my  own  experiences,  and  I  do 
not  regard  myself  as  a  normal  specimen  of  hu- 
manity, because  I  work  a  great  deal  harder  than 


104  THE   FASTING   CURE 

anybody  has  a  right  to  work.  I  do  that  because 
there  are  so  many  idle  and  useless  people  in  the 
world  at  present  —  and  some  have  to  make  mar- 
tyrs of  themselves,  until  conditions  of  injustice  and 
cruelty  have  been  done  away  with. 


APPENDIX  105 


APPENDIX 

Some  Letters  from  Fasters 

London,  Ontario,  May  2,  1910. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Your  article  in  a  recent  magazine 
very  greatly  interested  me.  My  sister,  on  her 
way  home  from  a  five-and-a-half-weeks'  visit  in 
Boston  and  New  York,  where  she  had  been  en- 
deavoring to  discover  the  causes  of  her  frightful 
headaches,  bought  that  number  of  the  magazine 
and  read  your  experience,  with,  as  you  can  well 
imagine,  a  deep  interest.  In  Boston  she  had  con- 
sulted one  of  the  two  physicians  supposed  to  head 
the  profession  (as  consultants)  in  that  city.  This 
man  told  her  she  had  Bright's  disease  and  leakage 
of  the  heart,  and  he  gave  her  ten  years  to  live  — 
if  she  was  very  careful.  As  she  has  five  children 
under  twelve  years  of  age,  this  was  a  sad  outlook. 
She  weighed  122  pounds  when  she  left  —  and  this 
was  the  lowest  weight  since  early  girlhood  —  but 
on  her  return,  weighed  on  the  same  scales  in  the 
same  clothing,  she  was  only  108  pounds.  She 
looked  very  bad,  and  her  spirits  were  at  zero. 

Your  article  appealed  to  her,  and  she  would 
have  unhesitatingly  tried  your  remedy,  but  that 
she  was  pregnant,  and  thought  it  would  probably 


106  THE   FASTING   CURE 

mean  the  child's  death.  The  Boston  obstetrician, 
who  was  consulted,  said,  if  the  other  doctor's  diag- 
nosis was  correct,  the  child  would  have  to  be  taken 
at  eight  months. 

After  reading  your  experience,  I  said  to  my 
sister:  "You  cannot  perhaps  follow  Mr.  Sin- 
clair's example,  but  you  can  approximate  to  it.  If 
you  go  to  your  own  doctor  he  will  undoubtedly 
send  you  to  some  sanatorium  where  the  patients 
are  fairly  stuffed.  Suppose  you  come  over  to  my 
place  each  noon  and  take  dinner,  having  eaten 
only  a  very  light  breakfast;  then  rest  from  two  to 
five,  take  a  long  bath  when  you  rise,  go  for  a 
walk  from  six  to  six-thirty,  and  then  to  your  own 
home  for  tea,  taking  only  a  shredded  wheat  biscuit 
for  that  meal." 

My  sister  consented,  and  on  Saturday  was 
weighed.  On  that  light  diet,  and  in  twelve  days, 
she  had  gained  fourteen  pounds.  Her  color  is 
returning,  she  does  not  tire  as  she  did,  and  we  are 
full  of  hope  that  she  may  recover. 

My  object  in  writing  was  to  thank  you  for  your 
frank  recital  of  ills  and  aches  and  their  cure,  and 
to  get  from  you  the  names  of  the  books  to  which 
you  referred. 

Several  of  my  friends  have  read  your  articles 
on  my  recommendation,  and  one  at  least  is  seri- 
ously considering  a  lengthened  fast.  Reading  the 
article  took  me  back  to  the  "  no-breakfast  regime," 
which  I  followed  for  five  years,  and  then,  for  no 
especial  reason,  abandoned.  Already  I  feel  much 
better.  Sincerely  and  gratefully, 

M.  R.  T. 


APPENDIX  107 


Skowhegan,  Maine,  May  30,  1910. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  read  your  article  in  the  Cosmo- 
politan with  deep  interest,  and  am  to-day  on  my 
seventh  day's  fast.  My  sensations  thus  far  are 
exactly  like  yours.  I  shall  fast  until  hunger  re- 
turns, if  it  take  a  month. 

My  age  is  forty-eight,  and  I  have  enjoyed  the 
best  of  health  nearly  all  my  life.  Even  now  my 
digestion  is  all  right,  but  for  five  years  or  so  I 
have  been  troubled  with  rheumatism,  not  the  pain- 
ful, swelling  sort,  but  lame  joints. 

I  tried  Fletcherism,"  and  for  the  last  nine 
months  have  done  my  best  to  live  up  to  his  sugges- 
tions, but  fell  down,  exactly  as  in  your  own  case. 
,1  can't  tell  what  to  eat,  or  when  I  have  eaten 
enough. 

Whether  this  fast  of  yours  does  me  any  perma- 
nent good  or  not,  my  joints  certainly  move  better 
to-day  than  for  six  months,  and  I  have  every  confi- 
dence in  the  theory.  The  physicians  here  to  a 
man  all  laugh  at  me,  likewise  my  friends.  I  had 
lost  ten  pounds  in  weight  at  the  end  of  the  sixth 
day;  I  lost  three  the  first,  two  each  for  the  next 
two  days,  and  a  pound  a  day  for  the  next  three 
days. 

You  speak  of  an  unmistakable  appetite.  I  could 
eat,  of  course,  now,  though  I  have  no  appetite, 
and  I  am  wondering  how  I  shall  know  when  a  real 
appetite  returns.  Mrs.  W.  is  as  keen  to  try  the 
fasting  cure  as  I,  and  her  condition  is  very  like 
Mrs.  Sinclair's,  but  I  thought  one  member  of  the 
family  was  enough  for  the  first  try-out.  Please 
pardon  a  total  stranger  for  encroaching  upon  the 


108  THE   FASTING   CURE 

time  of  a  busy  man,  but  in  the  hunt  for  health, 
without  which  life  is  not  worth  living,  one  will  do 
things  he  would  not  otherwise  think  of.  For  your 
information  I  will  say  that  I  have  attended  to  my 
office  and  business  every  day  since  my  fast  began, 
walking  to  my  home  and  back  at  least  three  times 
daily,  for  the  exercise;  driving  a  touring-car 
nights  and  Sunday,  for  pleasure,  exactly  as  though 
there  had  been  no  change  in  my  habits.  The 
strangest  part  of  the  experience  is  that  I  feel  so 
well,  and  except  for  a  slight  faintness,  feel  per- 
fectly well  to-day.  Say  —  but  I  was  hungry  for 
the  first  two  days ! 

Yours  truly, 

Herbert  Wentworth. 

Clyde  Park,  Mont.,  May  17,  1910. 
Dear  Sir,  —  I  was  much  interested  in  your 
article  in  the  Cosmopolitan  on  "  Starving  for 
Health's  Sake."  For  some  time  before  I  read  it 
I  had  been  troubled  with  a  coated  tongue  and  a 
nasty,  bitter  taste  in  my  mouth.  When  I  read  the 
article  my  complaint  was  probably  at  its  worst.  I 
consulted  a  doctor,  who  gave  me  some  capsules  to 
clean  out  my  intestinal  canal,  so  he  said.  I  asked 
him  what  I  could  eat  and  he  said,  "  The  less  you 
eat  the  better."  So  I  ate  nothing  for  a  week. 
Everything  connected  with  my  fast  for  that  week 
was  just  as  you  described  it  —  a  ravenous  hunger 
on  the  second  day  and  after  that  no  hunger  at  all. 
However,  the  coated  tongue  was  still  there,  and 
when  I  next  saw  the  doctor  I  mentioned  your  ar- 
ticle and  said  you  recommended  rectal  injections. 


APPENDIX  IO9 


He  said  he  read  your  article  and  approved  of  it, 
and  said  after  a  thorough  examination  that  I  had 
an  impaction  of  the  colon.  He  said  he  would  give 
me  something  to  work  on  my  colon  and  also  added 
that  if  I  fasted  long  enough  the  impaction  would 
move  out  of  itself.  He  also  recommended  injec- 
tions. On  the  25th  day,  although  the  coated 
tongue  and  nasty  taste  were  still  with  me,  I  com- 
menced eating  again,  as  there  was  so  much  work 
to  do  on  the  ranch,  and  I  had  to  do  it,  as  hired 
help  was  scarce.  I  drank  nothing  but  tepid  water 
and  very  thin  lemonade,  slightly  sweetened,  during 
my  fast  of  twenty-four  days.  I  dropped  from  175 
pounds  to  143  pounds. 

It  is  a  week  now  since  I  broke  my  fast  and  I  am 
rapidly  gaining  weight.  Yesterday  I  weighed  152 
pounds.  However,  as  I  said,  I  still  have  the 
coated  tongue,  although  not  so  bad  as  formerly, 
and  when  I  regain  more  weight,  I  'm  going  to 
begin  another  fast.  I  am  fifty-three  years  of  age, 
and  have  never  used  tea,  coffee,  whisky,  or  to- 
bacco. I  want  to  read  up  on  the  subject,  so  that 
when  I  begin  again  I  '11  know  what  to  do.  Your 
article  was  all  the  literature  I  had  on  the  subject, 
and  it  may  have  been  incomplete  in  a  great  many 
important  particulars. 

Respectfully  yours, 

Robert  Aitkin. 


Chicago,  III.,  May  22,  1910. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  think  you  will  be  interested  to 
learn  the  experience  of  my  wife,  who  tried  your 


IIO  THE   FASTING   CURE 

fast,  with  the  same  results  as  your  wife,  over 
which  we  are  very  much  delighted. 

Allow  me  to  say  that  it  was  all  done  on  the 
quiet,  and  no  one  knew  of  it  until  it  was  all  over. 
And  then,  of  course,  every  one  thought  she  was 
raving  crazy,  but  she  has  since  shown  her  friends 
that  it  was  just  the  thing  to  do. 

In  the  first  place  it  appealed  to  her,  and  she 
went  into  it  with  faith.  She  fasted  for  eleven 
days,  after  the  second  day  was  never  hungry  at 
all,  and  really  began  to  take  nourishment  before 
she  was  hungry. 

The  whole  thing  came  out  exactly  as  in  your 
cases  and  was  most  interesting.  She  had  temper- 
ature the  first  two  days  and  ate  crushed  ice.  After 
that,  hot  or  cold  water  as  desired.  The  tongue 
was  coated  very  badly  and  her  breath  very  bad. 
The  tongue  cleared  very  slowly  and  was  quite  dis- 
couraging, but  after  a  few  days  was  clear  again. 
She  lost  over  ten  pounds,  all  of  which  has  been  re- 
gained and  more,  too,  and  she  is  gaining  all  the 
time.  Complexion  very  clear,  and  the  picture  of 
health.  Appetite  great,  eats  everything,  no  aches 
or  pains  of  any  kind,  and,  best  of  all,  no  consti- 
pation, which  was  what  she  tried  the  fast  for. 
She  lost  no  strength  to  speak  of  and  did  n't  have 
to  take  to  bed  at  all ;  in  fact,  did  everything  about 
the  house  as  usual. 

Everything  has  been  fine  now  for  three  weeks, 
and  if  the  troubles  return,  she  is  to  fast  again 
and  do  it  right,  and  will  take  no  nourishment 
until  the  tongue  clears. 

She  took  internal  baths  nearly  every  day,  and 


APPENDIX  1 1 1 


was  astonished  at  the  results  when  nothing  but 
water  was  being  taken.  While  we  don't  recom- 
mend it  for  every  one,  it  certainly  has  been  a  god- 
send in  this  case,  and  I  believe  because  it  was  done 
right  and  with  faith  that  it  was  just  the  thing  for 
her.  You  certainly  have  one  convert,  and  if  this 
interests  you,  shall  be  pleased  to  know  it. 
Yours  very  sincerely, 

C.  D.  F. 

Knoxville,  Tenn.,  June  5,  19 10. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  wish  to  acknowledge  my  indebt- 
edness to  you  for  a  restoration  to  such  health  of 
body  and  clarity  of  mind  as  I  have  not  known 
since  my  sixteenth  year,  when  first  I  entered  the 
high  school.    That  was  twenty  years  ago. 

I  read  your  article,  "  Starving  for  Health's 
Sake,"  in  the  Cosmopolitan,  and,  as  you  may  re- 
collect, asked  you  for  information  as  to  certain 
books  treating  of  the  fast  as  a  cure  for  disease. 

Instead  of  answering  me  fully,  you  referred  my 
case  to  the  Bernarr  Macfadden  Institution  in  Chi- 
cago, for  which  I  thank  you,  but  I  did  not  go  there 
because  I  had  neither  time  nor  money  for  that 
purpose. 

Through  a  local  book-dealer  I  ordered  a  copy 
of  "  Fasting,  Hydrotherapy  and  Exercise,"  but 
after  two  weeks  of  waiting  it  failed  to  arrive,  so 
with  your  Cosmopolitan  article  as  my  only  guide 
and  sum  total  of  knowledge  as  to  the  fast,  I  quit 
eating  on  May  13  and  did  not  take  anything  ex- 
cept water  until  the  morning  of  May  26.  Even 
then  I  was  not  hungry,  but  as  I  did  not  care  to 


112  THE   FASTING   CURE 

remain  away  from  work  any  longer  I  broke  the 
fast  on  the  morning  of  the  26th.  I  lost  thirteen 
pounds  in  weight,  but  was  never  too  weak  not  to 
move  around.  I  worked  in  the  office  for  seven  days, 
and  the  balance  of  the  time  remained  at  home, 
basking  in  the  sunshine  and  reading  constantly. 

My  health  and  appetite  are  in  such  perfect  con- 
dition I  can  eat  anything  without  fear  of  ulterior 
consequences. 

As  a  result  of  the  fast,  I  have  sloughed  off  all 
my  impedimenta  of  disease.  Constipation  of  ten 
years'  standing  is  gone  as  if  by  magic.  Piles  and 
resulting  pruritis  of  eight  years'  tearing  torture  are 
nightmares  of  the  past.  Bronchitis  and  eczema  of 
scalp  have  vanished.  Asthma,  due  to  nervous  sym- 
pathy with  the  pneumogastric  nerve,  is  no  more. 
Catarrhal  deafness,  sore  throat,  intestinal  catarrh, 
and  a  general  neurasthenic  condition  have  left  me. 
Work  was  never  so  pleasant.  I  cannot  get  enough 
of  physical  exercise,  it  seems ;  my  muscles  seem  to 
grow  stronger  as  the  exercise  proceeds,  and  my 
weight  is  going  upward  about  a  pound  daily.  I 
am  now  three  pounds  heavier  than  I  was  before 
my  fast  began. 

Life  was  never  so  beautiful,  hope  and  joy  never 
so  green,  the  future  for  me  and  humanity's  great 
movement  toward  a  better  day  and  higher  good  of 
existence  never  seemed  so  reasonable  and  possible 
of  every  realization  as  now,  in  the  full  possession 
of  physical  health  and  mental  strength  which  have 
come  back  to  me. 

Heretofore  my  work  has  been  wrought  out  in 
pain. 


APPENDIX  113 


I  am  through  with  drugs.  I  graduated  from 
allopathy  long  ago,  then  took  up  homeopathy  and 
have  now  discarded  it.  I  have  spent  over  $500  in 
the  last  ten  years  trying  to  get  well  on  medicines. 
These  professional  quacks  bled  me  for  a  living 
and  knew  not  how  to  cure  me.  Your  article  was 
written  in  the  spirit  of  wishing  to  help  suffering 
man.  It  cost  me  only  thirty  cents  to  use  your 
method,  viz. :  six  feet  of  rubber  tubing  to  make  a 
siphon  to  take  two  enemas  daily.  For  that  thirty 
cents  I  obtained  relief  a  million-fold  more  bene- 
ficial than  from  $500  worth  of  medicine.  Nay 
more,  from  your  fasting  idea  I  got  rid  of  $500 
worth  of  poisoning  during  ten  years  of  medical 
superstition. 

Sincerely  yours, 

H.  E.  Hoover. 

Northwest  Society  Archaeological 
Institute  of  America 

Washington  University,  Seattle,  Wash. 

Nov.  5,  1910. 
Editor  Cosmopolitan  Magazine. 

Am  enclosing  clipping  which  shows  that  promi- 
nent men  up  here  in  the  great  Northwest  are  not 
afraid  to  try  out  certain  methods  of  fighting  dis- 
ease merely  because  they  are  thought  to  be  "  new  " 
or  "  faddy  "  (tho'  in  truth  the  fast  cure  is  as  old 
as  the  Old  Testament). 

The  value  of  Professor  Colvin's  fast  experi- 
ence seems  to  be  that  he  has  given  to  the  world 


114  THE   FASTING   CURE 

the  best  method  of  breaking  the  fast  and  getting 
on  to  a  solid-food  diet.  Upton  Sinclair  said  the 
breaking  of  the  fast  is  the  most  important  part 
of  it,  and  would  be  the  most  dangerous  were  it 
not  for  the  great  natural  food,  milk,  which  tides 
you  over.  But  he  fails  to  remember  there  are 
thousands  with  whom  milk  does  not  agree,  sick 
or  well. 

Shortly  after  interview  noted  in  enclosed  clip- 
ping from  Seattle  Times,  Professor  Colvin  at- 
tempted to  begin  to  break  the  fast  with  orange 
juices  and  utterly  failed.  He  then  tried  milk  and 
was  made  so  sick  that  he  had  to  fast  for  three 
more  days  to  get  into  a  condition  to  break  the 
fast.  He  then  started  in  with  a  very  light  veal 
broth  (not  soup,  nor  tea).  He  soon  got  so  he 
could  take  a  cup  of  it  every  hour  and  a  half.  To 
get  on  to  solid  food  he  tried  a  few  crackers  with 
the  broth,  but  found  too  much  soda  in  the  crackers 
and  abandoned  their  use.  Finally  he  hit  upon  the 
very  thing  that  fitted  the  condition  of  his  body, 
dry  whole-wheat  bread  toasted.  This  toasted 
whole-wheat  bread  he  had  his  cook  crush  with  a 
rolling  pin  into  a  powder  and  each  day  mixed 
more  of  it  with  the  cup  of  broth.  After  this  he 
filled  the  cup  three-fourths  full  of  this  toast  pow- 
der and  only  poured  in  as  much  broth  as  the  dust 
would  absorb,  making  a  solid  gruel,  which  was 
very  appetizing  and  nourishing  (so  much  so  that 
the  professor  continues  to  use  it  for  breakfast 
food  though  his  fast  is  closed).  Now  to  this 
gruel  he  added  mashed  baked  potato  from  time 
to  time   (more  each  time)  until  he  virtually  sup- 


APPENDIX  1 1  5 


planted  the  toast  dust.  From  this  he  went  to 
baked  apple,  thence  to  raw  eggs,  thence  to  mac- 
aroni, thence  to  pigeon  squab,  and  thence  to  solid 
earth. 

It  seems  to  me  that  his  discovery  of  the  broth- 
toast-gruel  method  is  a  great  discovery.  Espe- 
cially so  for  those  who  live  in  the  cities  and  can- 
not be  sure  as  to  the  absolute  purity  of  their  milk. 
Even  when  the  milk  diet  can  be  used  it  does  not 
afford  a  solution  for  getting  off  of  a  liquid  diet 
on  to  a  solid  food  basis. 

In  your  July  number  appears  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Buel  of  New  York  in  which  he  says  that  it  would 
be  almost  criminal  to  permit  any  one  advanced  in 
years  to  enter  upon  the  dangerous  folly  of  the 

fast  cure."  I  am  enclosing  you  a  clipping  from 
the  Oregonian,  telling  of  the  fasting  experi- 
ences of  Professor  Colvin's  friend,  Rev.  J.  E. 
Fitch.  Rev.  Fitch  is  8 1  years  of  age  and  a  year 
ago  took  it  into  his  head  to  out-fast  Moses.  Holy 
Writ  says  that  Moses  fasted  40  days,  and  to 
prove  to  his  congregation  that  one  did  not  have 
to  be  superstitious  to  believe  some  of  these  Old 
Testament  tales,  Rev.  J.  E.  Fitch,  at  the  age  of 
80,  fasted  fifty  days;  and  instead  of  losing  flesh 
towards  the  last  part  of  his  fast  actually  gained 
in  weight.  He  is  as  vigorous  to-day  as  he  was  at 
21. 

Your  Mr.  Buel  spoke  of  fasters  as  cranks  and 
faddists  and  intimated  that  your  solid  citizen 
would  not  thus  be  led  astray.  Professor  Colvin  is 
not  a  crank  but  one  of  our  best  citizens,  being  well 
known  both  in  this  country  and  Europe,  and  spoken 


Il6  THE   FASTING   CURE 

of  as  the  probable  president  of  the  Pan-American 
University  to  be  located  in  Porto  Rico. 
Very  respectfully, 

Thos.  F.  Murphy. 

210  Merriman  Ave., 
Asheville,  N.  C,  9/11/10. 
Mr.  Upton  Sinclair, 
Arden,  Del. 
Dear  Sir,  —  After  fasting  for  ten  days  I  went 
off  for  ten  days.  Then  on  for  seventeen  days, 
during  which  time  I  got  rid  of  a  long  list  of 
troubles,  except  a  cough,  for  which  I  underwent 
examination  by  a  specialist.  I  found  I  had  tuber- 
culosis. The  entire  upper  right  lobe  of  my  lung 
and  about  half  of  the  left  upper  lung  being  af- 
fected. Now  I  am  up  here  making  a  very  rapid 
recovery.  I  consider  that  the  fasts  I  took  were 
the  best  things  that  could  have  happened  for  me, 
since  they  eliminated  a  bunch  of  troubles  that  are 
nearly  always  present  with  tuberculosis,  such  as 
indigestion,  sore  throat,  rheumatism,  etc.  All  of 
these  left  me,  and  I  never  felt  better  in  my  life 
than  since  fasting.  I  do  not  believe  that  such  a 
rapid  recovery  as  I  am  making  could  be  possible 
had  I  not  fasted.  Fasting  did  not  cure  the  tuber- 
culosis, but  it  gave  me  an  excellent  stomach,  with 
which  to  fight  it,  and  tuberculosis  will  always  give 
way  to  a  good  stomach.  I  did  not  know  I  had 
tuberculosis  when  I  started  fasting,  but  I  now 
know,  since  learning  more  about  the  disease,  that 
I  had  the  trouble  in  an  active  state  more  than  nine 
months   before   I    fasted.      My  cough   got  very 


APPENDIX  II7 


tame  during  the  fast  and  very  nearly  disappeared, 
but  returned  as  I  increased  the  amount  of  food 
I  took  after  breaking  the  fast,  but  at  no  time  did 
it  get  as  bad  as  it  was  previous  to  the  fast.  I 
weighed  172  lbs.  in  May,  when  I  began  my  fast- 
ing and  dropped  to  148  lbs.,  and  now  weigh  180 
lbs.  and  never  felt  better  in  my  life.  Have  but  a 
slight  spot  of  the  tuberculosis  affection  left  in  my 
right  lung. 

While  I  would  not  recommend  others  affected 
with  tuberculosis  to  fast,  I  would  ask  that  if  you 
have  any  letters  from  consumptives  who  have 
fasted  I  would  appreciate  a  copy. 

Roland  A.  Wilson. 

New  Zealand,  Sept.  10,  19 10. 
Dear  Mr.  Sinclair,  —  Your  article  "  The 
Truth  about  Fasting "  in  August  Physical  Cul- 
ture to  hand  this  week  has  much  interested  me. 
The  questions  you  ask  at  end  of  article  will,  I 
hope,  recive  many  replies,  and  give  much  informa- 
tion regarding  the  fasting  cure.  I,  personally,  can 
supply  a  considerable  amount  of  just  such  infor- 
mation as  you  require,  but  the  fact  that  I  am  a 
druggist  in  business  precludes  the  giving  of  such 
for  publication  until  drugs  and  I  part  company. 
Let  me  explain.  A  little  under  four  years  ago  I 
came  upon  a  copy  of  Physical  Culture.  It  inter- 
ested me  and  I  followed  up  the  reading  by  sub- 
scribing, and  obtaining  various  books  —  Dewey's, 
Hazzard's,  Carrington's,  Desmond's,  Eales',  Bell's 
and  others.  I  became  quite  convinced  that  about 
99  per  cent  of  usual  medical  treatment  was  wrong, 


Il8  THE   FASTING   CURE 

and,  in  fact,  actually  detrimental,  and  often  death- 
dealing  to  those  who  were  in  search  of  health. 
More  and  more  I  felt  that  I  was  doing  a  big  in- 
justice to  those  who  applied  to  me  for  help,  and  an 
accessory  in  bad  practice  by  the  dispensing  of 
physician's  prescriptions.  Yet  I  know  that,  like 
myself,  the  great  bulk  of  the  doctors  and  chemists 
were  acting  innocently  and  even  conscientiously 
when  recommending  drugs  and  practicing  the  ac- 
cepted drug  and  surgical  treatments.  The  belief 
that  drugs  cure  disease  is  so  deeply  rooted  in  the 
average  human  mind,  and  the  teachings  in  medi- 
cal and  druggists'  colleges  so  universal,  and  even 
thorough,  that  doctors  and  druggists  can  hardly 
be  blamed  for  holding  to  their  mother-loves. 

However,  I  had  an  open  mind,  and  a  desire  to 
hand  out  a  square  deal,  and  decided  to  make  a 
practical  test  of  the  new  teachings  that  had  come 
my  way. 

I  started  by  carefully  selecting  my  patients  — 
those  who  I  believed  had  a  fair  amount  of  intelli- 
gence, and  whose  ailments  had  supplied  them  with 
a  fairly  long  course  of  pain,  worry  and  expense. 
Being  a  druggist  in  business,  it  would  have  been 
a  very  foolish  thing  for  me  to  have  wholly  con- 
demned drugs.  And  that  is  one  reason  why  I 
selected  chronics  for  a  start  —  I  was  able  to  use 
the  argument  that  as  drugs  had  had  a  long  and 
faithful  trial,  and  had  proven  valueless  in  curing, 
a  fast  of  nine  or  ten  days  would  be,  at  least, 
worth  a  trial.  My  first  case  was  a  lady  about 
thirty-five  years  of  age.  Complaint,  badly  swollen, 
highly  inflamed  and  ulcerated  leg,  extending  from 


APPENDIX  119 


two  inches  below  knee  to  one  inch  above  ankle,  and 
more  than  half  way  around.  She  proved  a  good 
patient.  The  leg  had  been  bad  with  more  or  less 
severity  for  fourteen  years,  and  had  been  treated 
by  several  doctors,  druggists,  and  others.  She 
started  on  an  immediate  fast.  Within  twenty-four 
hours  after  fast  commenced,  the  inflammation  de- 
creased; by  the  end  of  the  fourth  day  it  had  en- 
tirely subsided,  and  by  the  end  of  the  eighth  day 
not  a  vestige  of  the  trouble  remained.  This  fast 
took  place  over  two  years  ago  —  she  has  held 
reasonably  well  to  the  simple  foods  I  advised, 
and  so  far  there  has  been  no  return  of  the  ail- 
ment. Her  general  health  has  very  considerably 
improved. 

Since  then  I  have  treated,  perhaps,  fifty  cases 
by  fasting,  and  many  others  by  simple  dieting. 
Many  complete  cures  have  been  effected  that  ordi- 
nary medical  methods  had  entirely  failed  to  ben- 
efit. My  list  comprises  many  ailments,  ranging 
from  one  to  forty-five  years  in  evidence,  while 
the  patients  themselves  have  ranged  in  age  from 
one  year  to  eighty-five  years. 

}L.  —i 

Hastings,  Mich.,  Sept.  II,  1910. 
Editor,  the  Cosmopolitan. 

Every  reader  of  your  magazine  owes  you  a 
vote  of  thanks  for  the  Upton  Sinclair  article  on 
fasting. 

Mr.  Sinclair  said,  "  There  are  three  dangers 
attending  the  fast."  In  my  case  there  were  four 
—  the  danger  of  being  sent  to  the  Insane  Asylum. 


120  THE   FASTING   CURE 

All  my  neighbors  and  relations  had  the  utmost 
contempt  for  what  they  termed  u  my  craziness." 
But  notwithstanding  all  this,  I  fasted  fourteen 
days,  and  stomach  trouble,  heart  trouble,  kidney 
trouble,  chronic  catarrh,  and  rheumatism,  which 
for  years  had  made  life  a  burden,  are  no  more. 
I  do  not  have  to  tell  my  friends,  at  this  date,  that 
it  was  a  success,  they  know  it.  My  family  phy- 
sician has  since  said  that  it  was  probably  the  best 
thing  I  ever  did  in  my  life. 

I  consider  myself  greatly  indebted  to  you  for 
furnishing  me  so  efficient  a  remedy,  free  of  cost. 
Gratefully  yours, 

Mrs.  E.  L.  Raymond. 

Upton  Sinclair. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Yes,  you  may  use  my  name  in 
connection  with  my  experience. 

As  I  did  not  take  a  complete  fast  the  first  time, 
I  began  again  Sept.  4th,  and  fasted  thirteen  days, 
when  natural  hunger  returned.  Had  none  of  the 
unpleasant  experiences  of  the  first  fast.  Was  able 
to  be  on  my  feet  and  work  more  than  at  any  time 
in  years. 

Chronic  rheumatism  had  caused  sinewy  swell- 
ing of  my  knee  joints,  that  in  turn  had  caused 
numbness  of  the  feet  and  lower  limbs,  making  it 
impossible  for  me  to  be  on  my  feet.  What  I  have 
suffered  with  them  from  jar  of  people  walking 
across  the  room,  or  brushing  against  them,  can- 
not be  told.  The  first  fast  removed  all  the  pain 
and  soreness.  The  last  fast  has  brought  them 
down  to  normal  or  nearly  so.    I  am  confident  that 


APPENDIX  121 


I    shall    soon   be    able   to    walk   any   reasonable 
distance. 

You  are  certainly  entitled  to  a  place  among  the 
public  benefactors  of  the  age  for  giving  to  the 
people  the  knowledge  you  had  gained  by  the  fast. 
Gratefully  yours, 

Mrs.  E.  L.  "Raymond. 

20  Bowdoin  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
Aug.  1,  1 9 10. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  have  just  read  with  much  inter- 
est your  article  in  Physical  Culture  and  am  minded 
to  send  you  a  brief  account  of  my  experience, 
which  has  been  in  some  respects  more  full  than 
your  own.  In  speaking  thus,  1  refer  to  the  fact 
that  my  fasts,  though  not  of  so  long  duration  as 
many  reported,  were  complete  in  this:  that  my 
blood  and  tissue  had  cleaned  up,  my  mouth  was 
sweet,  tongue  moist,  and  there  were  plenty  of  the 
digestive  fluids  and  a  call  for  good  plain  whole- 
some food,  which  was  slowly  eaten  and  perfectly 
digested,  and  my  appetite  was  perfectly  satisfied 
with  a  very  moderate  amount. 

I  suffered  severely  from  indigestion  and  rheu- 
matism, and  made  up  my  mind  to  try  the  ef- 
fect of  complete  abstinence  from  food  till  I  was 
better.  I  was  familiar  with  the  writings  of  Dr. 
Dewey  and  was  well  convinced  that  he  was  cor- 
rect in  his  views.  I  was  in  my  office  the  morning 
of  Jan.  1  st,  and  the  bookkeeper  remarked  as  to 
how  ill  I  looked.  Seven  days  after  that  (the  first 
seven  days  of  my  fast)  I  was  in  again,  and  he 
spoke  of  my  greatly  improved  appearance,  said 


122  THE   FASTING   CURE 

I  looked  very  much  better.  He  did  not  know  nor 
did  I  tell  him  the  reason  for  the  improvement. 
On  the  1 2th  day  —  the  first  after  I  had  broken 
the  fast  —  he  said  I  looked  much  better,  which 
was  also  true,  but  when  I  gave  him  an  explanation 
of  the  reason,  he  would  not  believe  in  it  at  all. 

In  none  of  the  four  fasts  which  I  have  taken 
have  I  set  any  time  limit  or  taken  it  as  a  stunt  at 
all,  but  only  have  been  guided  by  conditions  as 
they  developed.  In  no  instance  have  I  failed,  and 
in  no  case  was  food  a  temptation  to  me  until  nat- 
ural hunger  returned.  It  seems  to  me  an  error  to 
attempt  to  gauge  the  length  of  the  fast.  We 
ought  to  be  governed  by  nature's  direction.  A 
14  wise  dog  "  knows  when  he  needs  to  fast,  and 
fasts  till  he  wants  food.  It  seems  to  me  when  we 
get  to  that  point  of  wisdom,  to  know  as  much  as 
the  dog,  we  will  know  enough  to  go  by  intelligent 
needs  instead  of  the  clock. 

My  experience  is  not  in  accord  with  the  view 
expressed  in  your  article  as  regards  weakness  of 
stomach  and  lack  of  peristalsis  after  fasting.  It 
is  my  experience  that  after  a  complete  fast  any 
plain  food  desired  can  be  taken  without  harm.  I 
do  not  favor  imprudence,  of  course,  but  I  do  not 
think  that  there  is  any  good  reason  for  being  com- 
pelled to  take  fluid  foods  unless  one  desires  to. 
My  longest  fast  was  nineteen  days. 

C.  D.  Norris. 

39  Rue  Singer,  Paris,  France. 
Dear  Sir,  —  I  read  your  article  in  the  May 
Cosmopolitan  and  was  very  much  impressed  with 


APPENDIX  123 


the  ideas  you  advocated.  I  had  for  twenty  years 
been  troubled  with  constipation,  which  caused  colds 
and  grippe,  besides  making  me  very  sluggish. 
Being  a  singer  and  teacher,  these  things  were 
great  handicaps  on  my  work,  so  after  reading 
your  article  I  decided  to  try  it.  I  was  in  Paris 
studying  singing  with  Oscar  Seagle  and  Jean  de 
Reszke,  and  of  course  I  needed  to  be  at  my  very 
best  all  the  time,  but  I  was  n't.  I  could  n't  keep 
from  taking  cold,  which  always  knocked  me  out 
of  a  week  or  two  of  work.  So  when  my  teachers 
went  away  for  their  vacation,  I  decided  to  start 
the  fast,  and  on  July  31  I  did  so.  Being  a  coffee 
"  toper,"  it  made  it  very  hard  for  me  to  give  up 
my  breakfast  cup  of  strong  black  coffee,  but  I  did 
it  and  the  first  three  or  four  days  I  nearly  lost  my 
mind.  Never  experienced  anything  in  my  life  that 
required  so  much  will  power.  However,  I  stuck 
to  it,  but  I  was  very  hungry  and  had  a  splitting 
headache  for  four  days,  after  which  it  got  a  little 
better.  Then  about  the  fifth  day,  as  my  hunger 
began  to  leave  me,  I  began  to  break  out  as  if  I  had 
measles  —  this  kept  up  for  five  or  six  days.  To 
add  to  that,  my  mouth  and  throat  became  in- 
flamed and  very  sore,  and  that  did  n't  cure  up 
until  about  the  twelfth  day  of  the  fast.  I  was 
exceedingly  miserable  all  these  days,  but  I  real- 
ized how  much  I  needed  something  of  the  kind  to 
get  the  terrible  poison  out  of  my  system,  so  I  just 
held  on  and  drank  much  water,  and  walked  in  the 
sunshine  all  I  could.  My  tongue  had  a  thick  coat 
on  it  and  I  had  a  terrible  bilious  taste  in  my  mouth 
for  twelve  days.     I  believed  it  would  take  about 


124  THE   FASTING   CURE 

twenty  days  to  fix  me  up  just  right,  so  I  was  going 
ahead  when  I  suddenly  decided  to  make  a  hurried 
business  trip  back  to  Texas ;  so  on  the  fourteenth 
day  I  sailed  from  Cherbourg  without  having 
broken  my  fast. 

I  carried  a  dozen  oranges  on  board  with  me  to 
make  sure.  When  I  began  to  breathe  the  salt  air 
I  got  hungry,  so  on  the  fifteenth  day  I  began  to 
eat  oranges  and  kept  it  up  for  a  day  and  a  half 
and  then  tried  to  get  some  milk,  but  could  get  none 
that  was  good,  and  most  of  what  I  got  was  of  the 
condensed  variety.  I  did  the  best  I  could  for 
four  days,  when  my  system  rebelled  and  became 
clogged  up  and  I  took  another  cold  as  usual.  So 
I  decided  not  to  eat  another  mouthful  on  that 
ship,  and  I  kept  the  fast  up  until  I  got  to  Ft. 
Worth.  Then  I  went  at  the  matter  according  to 
your  instructions,  and  the  results  were  perfect. 
I  took  up  oranges  for  two  days,  then  went  on  the 
milk  diet  for  two  days,  then  began  on  the  boiled 
wheat.  The  results  have  been  highly  satisfactory. 
Going  from  a  cold  climate  like  Paris  into  a  veri- 
table inferno  like  Texas  in  summer  made  it  very 
hard  on  me,  but  the  wheat  diet  did  everything  for 
me  and  gave  me  unusual  strength  and  vigor  even 
in  that  hot  climate  where  vigor  doesn't  abound 
much  in  hot  weather.  All  my  troubles  seemed  to 
disappear.  I  had  not  sung  a  tone  since  I  began 
the  first  fast  in  Paris,  so  I  began  to  practice  again, 
and  I  never  realized  such  a  change  in  anything. 
Everything  went  so  easy  and  all  my  friends  said 
that  they  never  saw  such  improvement  in  a  human 
voice.     I  have  never  even  desired  to  taste  coffee. 


APPENDIX  125 


I  am  living  on  wheat,  nuts,  all  kinds  of  fruit  and 
vegetables,  and  the  result  is  everything  you  said 
it  would  be.  I  have  completed  my  business  in 
Texas  and  will  start  back  to  Paris  to-day.  I  am 
preparing  myself  for  the  journey  this  time.  I 
have  a  large  thermos  "  bottle  which  I  have  filled 
with  wheat  and  will  carry  plenty  of  fruit  and  nuts. 
I  thank  you  very  much  for  your  information 
along  the  line  of  health.  You  have  been  a  great 
blessing  to  me,  and  I  am  sure  you  have  been  also 
to  thousands  of  others. 

Andrew  Hemphill. 


Omaha,  Neb. 

Dear  Mr.  Sinclair,  —  I  was  so  fascinated 
with  the  story  of  your  fast  that  I  immediately  made 
the  experiment  for  myself,  abstaining  entirely 
from  food  of  any  kind  for  five  days. 

I  had  no  particular  ailment  which  seemed  to 
need  the  fast  cure,  but  felt  impelled  to  do  a  little 
investigating  on  my  own  account. 

I  kept  a  diary  in  which  I  recorded  each  day's 
experience,  including  loss  in  weight,  effect  of  cold 
bath,  amount  of  exercise  taken,  etc.  Without 
going  into  details,  I  can  simply  say  I  was  aston- 
ished by  the  results.  While  in  one  respect  my  expe- 
rience differed  from  yours,  in  that  the  desire  for 
food  did  not  entirely  cease  at  any  time,  I  was  sur- 
prised to  find  how  easily  it  could  be  controlled 
after  the  first  day.  Since  the  fast  I  have  kept  on 
drinking  large  quantities  of  pure  water  —  result- 
ing in  a  gain  in  weight  of  twelve  pounds,  increased 


126  THE   FASTING   CURE 

digestive    powers    and    a    wonderfully    improved 
appetite. 

I  am  frank  to  say  I  was  never  so  pleased  with, 
nor  so  greatly  benefited  by  anything  ever  previ- 
ously extracted  from  a  magazine  article. 

R.  E.  Wheeler. 


750  Penobscot  B'ld'g,  Detroit, 
Oct.  19,  1910. 
Dear  Mr.  Sinclair,  —  Complying  with  your 
suggestion,  -will  hurriedly  and  briefly  group  my  ex- 
periences through  a  fast  which  I  took  largely  be- 
cause of  your  persuasive  article  on  that  subject. 
I  absorbed  the  inforation  you  gave  as  well  as  I 
could,  and  having  been  a  great  sufferer  for  over 
twenty  years  with  stomach  and  bowel  troubles, 
began  a  fast  which  I  continued  for  nearly  eleven 
days,  adhering  scrupulously  to  the  program  out- 
lined by  you,  in  so  far  as  I  could  practically  do  so, 
except  I  took  only  one  bath  (tepid)  daily  before 
retiring  and  omitted  the  enemas  after  the  fifth  day. 
Am  fifty-seven  years  of  age,  powerfully  built  and 
athletic  in  habit  and  practice.  ^  Normal  weight 
around  two  hundred  pounds,  height  six  feet  one 
and  one-half  inches.  Various  causes  reduced  my 
weight  some  four  years  ago  to  about  one  hundred 
and  eighty-five  pounds,  and  almost  constant  non- 
assimilation  of  foods  prevented  my  regaining  nor- 
mal weight.  Weight  an  hour  previous  to  my  last 
lunch  prior  to  the  fast,  one  hundred  and  eighty-six 
pounds;  lost  fourteen  pounds  during  the  fast, 
eight  of  which  fell  off  me  the  first  three  days.    My 


APPENDIX  127 


indigestion  had  for  years  been  accompanied  by 
distressing,  persistent  constipation.  This  did  not 
yield  until  the  afternoon  of  fourth  day  of  fast, 
when  my  entire  intestinal  functions  seemed  to  be- 
come normal,  and  although  I  had  taken  no  food, 
solid  or  liquid,  no  fruit  juices,  coffee,  tea  or  milk, 
absolutely  nothing  in  fast  except  Detroit  River 
water,  hot  or  cold,  as  fancy  suggested,  after  the 
fourth  day  the  bowels  inclined  to  movement  at 
least  twice  during  each  twenty-four  hours.  Lost 
strength  gradually  throughout  fast,  but  looked 
after  essentials  in  my  office  from  six  down  to  three 
hours  the  last  day.  I  had  no  pronounced  desire 
for  food  from  first  to  last.  Tongue  remained 
heavily  furred  throughout  the  fast,  breath  offen- 
sive, even  to  myself.  I  sat  at  table  at  breakfast 
and  evening  meals,  serving  same,  but  using  only 
a  cup  or  two  of  hot  water  as  my  portion.  Voice 
lost  resonancy  and  timbre,  and  I  finally  felt  so 
enervated  that  I  broke  the  fast  —  juice  of  an 
orange  first  evening,  and  of  five  oranges  the  second 
day;  of  six  oranges  the  third  day,  during  which 
I  also  sipped  a  quart  of  rich  milk,  hot.  Fourth 
day  ate  six  oranges,  two  quarts  milk,  slice  of  old 
bread  and  about  three-fourths  pound  juicy  steak, 
after  which  I  soon  began  to  eat  more  than  the 
usual  quantity  of  wholesome  food.  For  over  four 
months  had  no  indigestion,  bowels  regular  and 
normal. 

I  am  hoping  to  see  my  way  clear  to  fast  again 
soon,  for  am  needing  a  brace  physically.  ...  I 
owe  you  grateful  thanks  for  inciting  me  to  under- 
take the  remedy. 


128  THE   PASTING   CURE 

With  best  wishes   for  your   continued  success, 
usefulness  and  happiness. 

Sincerely, 

M.  E.  Hall. 


In  my  discussion  of  the  question  of  what  to  eat, 
I  have  referred  to  the  meat  diet,  and  also  to  the 
raw-food  diet.  By  way  of  throwing  further  light 
upon  the  problem,  I  reprint  here  two  letters,  one 
by  a  follower  of  Dr.  Salisbury,  and  the  other  by  a 
man  whom  I  was  instrumental  in  starting  upon 
raw  food.  The  latter  article  is  reprinted  from 
Physical  Culture,  by  courtesy  of  Mr.  Bernarr 
Macfadden.  The  reader  may  find  it  difficult  to 
understand  how  two  people  can  have  had  such 
apparently  contradictory  experiences.  I  myself, 
however,  have  no  doubt  of  the  literal  truth  of 
their  statements,  for  I  know  dozens  of  people 
who  are  thriving  upon  each  of  these  diets.  It  is 
to  me  only  a  further  proof  of  the  fact  that  our 
knowledge  of  this  subject  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy, 
and  that  all  one  can  do  is  to  experiment,  and 
find  out  what  system  best  agrees  with  his  own 
organism. 

504  West  Second  St., 
Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  July  28,  1910. 
Dear  Sir,  —  As  you  say  in  the  August  Physi- 
cal Culture  that  you  would  like  to  hear  the  expe- 


APPENDIX  129 


riences  of  fasters,  I  will  tell  you  of  mine.  In 
1 889-1 890  I  was  very  sick  with  catarrh  of  the 
stomach  and  bowels,  which  developed  into  con- 
sumption of  the  bowels  accompanied  by  inflamma- 
tory rheumatism.  On  May  1st,  1890,  I  went  to 
the  office  of  Dr.  James  H.  Salisbury  and  treated 
with  him  for  one  year.  During  the  first  nine 
months  I  ate  nothing  but  Salisbury  steaks,  begin- 
ning with  one  ounce  per  meal  and  increasing  grad- 
ually as  I  could  assimilate  it  to  one  pound  per 
meal,  and  drank  a  pint  of  hot  water  an  hour  and 
a  half  before  meals  and  at  bedtime.  Salisbury 
steak,  as  you  probably  know,  is  beef  pulp,  — 
round  steak  with  all  fat  and  fibres  removed.  I 
dropped  weight  rapidly,  going  from  140  pounds 
to  90  pounds  as  this  loss  was  diseased  flesh.  I 
then  gained  as  rapidly  on  beef  alone  and  this  was 
good  hard  flesh.  During  the  next  three  months 
he  allowed  me  a  slice  of  toasted  bread  at  two 
meals  daily  in  addition  to  the  meat.  For  the  past 
twenty  years  I  have  eaten  meat  three  times  a  day 
with  other  foods,  consequently  have  not  needed 
a  physician  in  that  time.  I  have  foolish  spells 
occasionally  and  indulge  in  fruit,  vegetables  and 
cereals,  and  destroy  the  proper  ratio,  viz:  2/3 
of  meat  to  1/3  of  other  foods,  then  I  begin  to  get 
out  of  shape  and  this  brings  me  to  my  fasting 
experiences,  —  about  eight  of  them  in  the  last 
seventeen  years  and  lasting  from  five  to  fifteen 
days  according  to  the  time  it  took  for  my  tongue 
to  clear  off.  I  find  that  the  more  hot  water  I  drink 
the  quicker  it  clears;  during  the  last  fast  three 
years  ago  I  drank  one  quart  every  two  hours 


130  THE    FASTING  CURE 

through  the  day.  I  got  my  stomach  so  clean  that 
the  water  tasted  sweet  —  this  is  the  test  of  a  clean 
stomach. 

Fasts  have  benefited  me  and  I  recommend  them, 
as  few  people  will  live  on  beef  till  their  blood  gets 
pure;  that  an  exclusive  diet  of  beef  will  make 
pure  blood  I  saw  demonstrated  in  New  York  at 
Dr.  Salisbury's  by  microscopic  tests  of  my  own 
blood  and  that  of  others.  When  you  are  in  this 
condition  you  can  expose  yourself  as  much  as  you 
like  without  danger  of  taking  cold.  If  people 
suffering  with  stomach  and  intestinal  troubles, 
Bright's  disease,  diabetes,  rheumatism,  sciatica,  or 
tuberculosis,  would  eat  nothing  but  beef  pulp  and 
drink  hot  water  before  meals  they  would  be  cured 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  as  this  was  Dr.  Salisbury's 
average  of  cures  when  they  stuck  to  the  treatment. 
I  acknowledge  that  one  gets  rid  of  a  lot  of  dis- 
eased tissue  while  fasting,  but  not  more  rapidly 
than  on  the  beef  diet,  and  the  latter  has  the  advan- 
tage that  one  is  making  good  blood  all  the  time. 
I  consider  that  you  are  doing  a  great  work  in  rec- 
ommending the  fast  cure,  and  agree  with  you  that 
Hamburg  steak  is  not  the  best  food  to  break  a  fast 
with,  as  it  contains  1/4  to  1/3  of  fat  and  "  animal 
fat  is  a  lower  form  of  organization,  in  fact  is  often 
a  process  of  degeneration."  I  have  seen  several 
Salisbury  patients  have  slight  bilious  attacks  from 
eating  over-fat  beef,  but  they  quickly  recovered  by 
eating  leaner  beef.  Beef  pulp  is  the  best  thing 
to  eat  after  a  fast  as  it  is  absorbed  quickly  into  the 
circulation  and  I  never  saw  a  patient  whose 
stomach  was  too  weak  to  digest  it  in  small  quan- 


APPENDIX  131 


tities,  well  broiled.  I  believe  in  dry  foods,  well 
masticated,  —  no  slops. 

Dr.  Salisbury  said  to  me  "  a  man  whose  food  is 
beef  can  live  in  a  hole  in  the  ground  and  be 
healthy."  His  last  words  to  me  were,  "  Stick  to 
beef  and  hot  water  the  rest  of  your  life  and  noth- 
ing but  old  age  will  kill  yo«  barring  accident."  I 
asked  him  how  long  he  had  lived  on  this  diet,  he 
replied,  "  thirty  years."  —  "  Do  you  expect  to  die 
of  old  age?"  "Sure."  He  died  August  23rd, 
1905,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two  from  the  result  of 
an  accident.  He  was  a  most  scientific  and  success- 
ful practitioner;  but  nearly  all  physicians,  aside 
from  those  he  cured,  called  his  treatment  a  farce 
and  a  delusion  because  his  teachings  if  generally 
followed  would  put  the  majority  of  them  out  of 
business.  One  New  York  doctor  told  me  while  I 
was  on  the  diet  "  unless  you  give  up  beef  and  hot 
water  you  will  not  live  five  years  —  you  will  wear 
your  kidneys  out."  I  replied,  "  you  doctors  say 
I  am  going  to  die  anyway,  so  I  might  as  well  die 
clean."  I  immediately  increased  my  hot  water 
from  one  pint  to  one  quart  before  each  meal  and 
have  kept  it  up  ever  since.  When  I  began  drink- 
ing hot  water  I  had  a  slight  kidney  and  bladder 
trouble;  this  has  disappeared;  the  constant  flush- 
ing has  strengthened  these  organs,  —  I  am  now 
sixty-four. 

Cold  water  before  meals  is  better  than  none, 
but  is  not  as  good  as  hot  water,  as  the  latter  does 
not  chill  the  stomach  or  gripe  one,  and  acts  as  a 
tonic  on  the  internal  organs;  is  more  quickly  ab- 
sored  and  starts  perspiration,  causing  the  skin  to 


132  THE   FASTING  CURE 

share  with  the  kidneys  the  work  of  eliminating 
waste  matter.  If  a  person  is  not  very  sick  he  can 
eat  his  round  steak  (after  removing  the  fat) 
ground  without  removing  the  fibre.  For  a  regu- 
lar Salisbury  steak  leave  the  knife  loose  and  clean 
the  grinder  frequently. 

You  have  a  large  contract  in  trying  to  force 
medical  men  to  recognize  the  fast  cure.  They 
even  told  me,  "  while  we  think  you  are  honest,  you 
are  mistaken;  you  did  not  see  Dr.  Salisbury  per- 
form the  cures  you  think  you  saw."  The  Doctor 
considered  me  one  of  his  star  patients;  he  said 
I  was  as  far  gone  as  any  man  he  ever  saw  cured 
by  the  treatment,  and  that  he  would  rather  have 
three  cases  of  tuberculosis  of  the  lungs  than  one 
like  mine,  my  disease  being  in  the  last  stage. 

You  can  do  as  you  like  with  this  letter.    I  write 
simply  to  strengthen  you.     Persist,  you  are  on  the 
right  track  at  last.     You  are  no  "  shallow  sensa- 
tionalist."    I  like  your  writings. 
Very  sincerely, 

Jas.  Y.  Anthony. 


The  Fruit  and  Nut  Diet 

From  early  childhood  until  January  9,  19 10, 
or  about  twenty  years  in  all,  I  had  been  a  suf- 
ferer from  asthma,  and  chronic  catarrh  in  addi- 
tion. As  a  child  I  was  sick  a  great  deal  of  the 
time,  having  regular  attacks  every  few  weeks,  of 
such  little  troubles  as  bilious  fevers,  chills  and  la 
grippe,  with  pneumonia,  typhoid,  measles,  whoop- 


APPENDIX  133 


ing  cough  and  the  like  sprinkled  in  at  times.  I 
have  taken  gallons  of  castor  oil,  and  pounds  of 
calomel  and  quinine,  I  think.  I  don't  believe  I 
ever  had  more  than  one  cold,  but  I  was  never 
really  free  of  that. 

The  first  attack  of  asthma  came  shortly  after 
the  disappearance  of  a  severe  case  of  eczema,  and 
from  that  time  on  throughout  the  entire  twenty 
years,  I  did  not  pass  a  single  moderately  cold 
night  without  having  at  least  one,  and  more  often, 
two  and  three  spasms  of  asthma  during  the  night. 
These  were  relieved  temporarily,  only  after  sit- 
ting up  in  bed  and  inhaling,  for  several  minutes, 
the  smoke  from  a  green  powder  which  I  burned 
for  that  purpose.  Frequently  attacks  would  last 
continually  for  three  and  four  days  or  a  week, 
during  which  time  I  was  not  able  to  draw  a  single 
free  breath,  and  would  suffer  so  intensely  that  on 
many  occasions  I  felt  as  if  I  was  breathing  my 
last.  I  mention  all  this  for  fear  some  Salisbury 
followers  may  doubt  that  mine  was  a  real  genuine 
case  of  asthma.  In  that  case,  I  think  I  can  get 
satisfactory  evidence  from  our  family  physician 
and  others  who  were  with  me  a  great  deal  during 
that  time. 

As  I  grew  older,  and  about  the  time  I  went  to 
work  for  myself,  I  began  to  be  interested  in  phys- 
ical culture  methods,  and  noticed  a  great  improve- 
ment by  exercising  and  cutting  down  my  diet,  and 
afterwards  adopting  the  two-meal-a-day  plan. 
However,  there  was  one  thing  which  is  strongly 
emphasized  in  these  methods  that  did  not  work 
with  me  at  the  time,  but  seemed  to  make  the 


134  THE    FASTING   CURE 

asthma  worse;  and  that  was  the  fresh  air  idea. 
I  always  had  better  results,  and  the  attacks  were 
less  frequent  and  not  so  severe,  when  I  closed  the 
windows  and  doors,  and  filled  the  room  with  the 
smoke  and  fumes  of  the  remedy  I  used.  That 
was  due  mostly  to  the  narcotic  effect  of  the  rem- 
edy when  breathing  the  smoke  and  fumes  con- 
tinually. I  mention  this  for  fear  some  one  may 
suggest  that  the  ultimate  permanent  relief  was 
brought  about  simply  by  breathing  fresh  air  con- 
tinually when  I  did  begin  to  open  the  windows. 

During  all  this  time,  I  ate  meat  with  each  meal, 
or  twice  daily. 

I  began  to  notice  that  nuts  and  especially  pe- 
cans, of  which  I  am  particularly  fond,  and  which 
are  quite  plentiful  in  that  part  of  the  country  in 
which  I  live,  seemed  to  have  a  decidedly  bad  effect 
on  my  asthma,  and  a  greater  part  of  the  time  I 
would  not  touch  them  on  this  account.  At  that 
time,  however,  I  had  the  impression  that  gener- 
ally prevails  among  a  large  majority  of  people, 
that  nuts  or  fruits  were  only  good  for  eating  be- 
tween meals,  or  as  a  dessert  at  the  end  of  a 
meal,  and  in  addition  to  the  regular  food  that 
was  eaten;  and  that  was  the  way  I  had  eaten 
them. 

Mr.  Upton  Sinclair's  first  article  in  the  Physical 
Culture  magazine  on  the  fruit  and  nut  diet  was 
the  first  hint  I  ever  had  that  fruit  and  nuts  eaten 
alone  as  a  diet  had  any  real  substantial  food 
value.  From  this  time  on  I  began  experimenting 
with  short  fasts  of  one  meal  or  one  day,  and  also 
began  substituting  fruit  for  some  meals,  and  at 


APPENDIX  135 


the  same  time  cut  down  my  meat  eating  from 
twice  daily  to  two  or  three  times  a  week.  I 
noticed  a  great  improvement  in  both  asthma  and 
catarrh,  although  I  continued  having  attacks  of 
asthma  almost  every  night,  as  this  was  during 
the  winter  and  most  of  the  nights  were  quite 
cold. 

After  the  appearance  of  his  second  article,  I 
determined  to  try  this  diet  out  in  my  own  case, 
hoping  to  lessen  the  attacks  of  asthma  at  least, 
never  dreaming  of  the  real  surprise  that  was  in 
store  for  me.  I  fasted  the  last  two  days  of 
December,  1909,  and  started  in  January  1st,  eat- 
ing mostly  acid  fruits,  such  as  lemons,  oranges, 
grape  fruit,  etc.  (This  in  order  to  relieve  the 
constipation  that  I  was  then,  and  had  been 
troubled  with  more  or  less  for  the  past  two  or 
three  years.)  As  a  result  of  the  fast,  and  of  what 
might  be  termed  a  partial  fast  for  a  few  days 
after,  I  lost  several  pounds  in  weight,  which  I  did 
not  regain  until  after  I  had  been  eating  other 
fruits  for  several  days,  such  as  dates,  figs,  bananas 
and  apples,  also  all  kinds  of  nuts,  including  the 
much  dreaded  pecan,  which  seemed  to  cause  so 
much  trouble  before. 

On  the  night  of  January  8,  19 10,  I  had  my  last 
attack  of  asthma,  and  have  had  none  since.  By 
that  time  my  bowels  were  perfectly  free,  and  all 
traces  of  constipation  gone.  The  night  of  the 
9th  I  spent  in  peaceful,  dreamless  sleep,  my  head 
perfectly  clear  of  any  cold  or  catarrh,  enabling 
me  to  breathe  freely  through  my  nose  during 
sleep,  which  had  never  been  possible  before  this. 


136  THE   FASTING  CURE 

Although  the  temperature  outside  was  a  little 
above  zero,  and  stood  close  around  there  during 
the  greater  part  of  January  and  February  where 
I  was,  two  windows  in  my  room  were  wide 
open  all  of  the  time,  and  I  slept  between  them; 
also  there  was  no  stove  or  other  heating  appli- 
ances in  the  room  to  warm  me  on  retiring  and 
arising. 

I  stuck  rigidly  to  the  fruit  and  nuts,  living  on 
them  alone  until  the  weather  began  to  grow 
warmer.  I  then  grew  so  confident,  that  I  gradu- 
ally lapsed  into  a  general  raw-food  diet,  and  later 
on,  to  a  partly  raw  and  partly  cooked  diet,  but  no 
meat  at  all,  save  at  times,  when  it  was  necessary 
in  order  to  avoid  unpleasant  controversies  and 
explanations  among  people  who  knew  nothing  on 
the  subject,  and  were  therefore  sceptical,  and 
often  inclined  to  ridicule  me. 

With  the  return  to  cooked  foods,  came  a  return 
of  constipation,  and  with  it,  traces  of  the  old  cold 
or  catarrh.  This  is  one  thing  I  noticed  in  par- 
ticular ;  that  when  my  bowels  were  moving  freely, 
then  and  only  then  was  I  free  of  catarrh  or  cold. 
I  am  situated  at  present  where  I  am  away  from 
the  influences  of  kind-and-well-meaning  friends 
and  members  of  my  own  family,  so  am  living  on 
a  raw-food  diet  entirely,  doing  heavy  gymnasium 
work  every  day,  also  quite  a  bit  of  study  and 
other  brain  work  besides,  which  in  all  keeps  me 
quite  busy  most  of  the  day.  I  am  enjoying  the 
best  of  health  in  every  particular  all  the  while. 

H.  Mitchell  Godsey. 


APPENDIX  I37 


The  Rader  Case 

Mr.  L.  F.  Rader  of  Olalla,  Wash.,  died  at 
12.15  p-  M->  May  n,  1910,  at  123^  Broad- 
way North,  in  the  forty-seventh  year  of  his 
age.  Mr.  Rader's  physical  history  is  one  of  in- 
termittent suffering.  As  the  result  of  an  accident 
in  childhood  in  which  he  was  internally  injured, 
his  youth  and  early  manhood  were  filled  with  a 
succession  of  most  acute  attacks  of  painful  illness. 
About  fifteen  years  ago  he  deserted  the  orthodox 
means  of  treatment  and  turned  to  what  is  now 
known  as  the  natural  or  drugless  method,  with  the 
consequence  that  he  experienced  the  first  relief  he 
had  ever  known.  Three  years  ago  he  lay  ill  for 
three  months,  and  after  again  submitting  to  med- 
ical treatment  he  turned  to  the  fast  and  to  me.  In 
fourteen  days  he  was  up  and  about,  and  in  a  month 
he  was  able  to  attend  to  his  ordinary  business. 
Since  then  he  had  no  return  of  acute  symptoms 
until  March  31  of  this  year,  when,  after  unwonted 
physical  exercise  and  a  heavy  meal,  he  was  seized 
with  severe  pains  in  the  intestines,  which  com- 
pelled him  to  take  to  his  bed.  His  stomach  re- 
jected food,  and  within  a  week  the  taking  of  water 
brought  nausea.  I  was  then  called  to  diagnose 
the  case  and  to  direct  treatment.  I  made  the 
statement  at  that  time  to  Mrs.  Rader  that  there 
seemed  but  little  chance  for  his  recovery,  but  tried 
the  administration  of  fruit  juices  and  light  broths. 

The  point  was  soon  reached,  however,  when 
Mr.   Rader  refused  any  sustenance,   since  it  re- 


138  THE    FASTING   CURE 

suited  only  in  nausea  and  excruciating  pain.  In 
the  meanwhile  the  patient  came  to  Seattle,  and 
went  to  the  Hotel  Outlook  with  every  symptom 
showing  the  relief  that  is  the  logical  sequence  of 
removing  food  temporarily  from  a  system  strug- 
gling to  right  abnormal  conditions.  Things  pro- 
gressed smoothly  until  meddlesome  outsiders  in- 
terfered and  caused  the  city  health  officials  to  take 
cognizance  of  the  fact  that  a  man  was  "  starving  " 
in  the  hotel.  Without  warrant  Mr.  Rader's  rooms 
were  entered,  and  he  was  confronted  by  Drs. 
Bourns  and  Davidson,  who  endeavored  to  per- 
suade him  to  return  to  orthodoxy  and  to  the  care 
of  the  orthodox  physicians.  Mr.  Rader's  indig- 
nant repudiation  is  of  record,  as  is  also  the  result 
of  the  attempt  to  declare  him  insane. 

In  connection  with  the  latter,  after  his  removal 
to  a  quiet,  comfortable  room  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  city,  an  order  of  the  court,  obtained  in  some 
manner  by  the  health  officials,  sent  the  humane 
officers  to  the  rescue,  and  the  house  was  watched 
and  guarded  while  the  faithful  nurses  prevented 
forcible  entry  attempted  by  these  servants  of  the 
people.  The  latter  even  went  so  far  as  to  raise 
ladders  to  the  window  of  Mr.  Rader's  room,  and 
with  display  of  weapons  tried  to  force  the  catches 
in  the  vain  effort  to  serve  the  writ  which  was  their 
excuse.  To  prevent  their  seeing  the  patient  and 
to  save  him  as  much  as  possible  from  the  noisy 
disturbance,  I  carried  him  to  the  bath  and  locked 
the  door.  I  then  climbed  from  one  window  to 
another  across  a  court  into  the  next  flat  in  order 
to  call  the  attorney  for  the  humane  society,  who 


APPENDIX  139 


took  the  needful  steps  that  eventually  recalled  the 
writ.  In  the  meanwhile  Mr.  Rader  had  suffered 
mentally  to  such  an  extent  that  his  life  was  de- 
spaired of  for  many  hours,  and  he  never  fully 
recovered  from  the  nervous  shock,  which  undoubt- 
edly hastened  his  end.  Until  the  coming  of  these 
officers  he  was  able  to  walk  from  his  room  to  the 
bath,  but  afterwards  he  continually  begged  to  be 
protected  from  outsiders  and  to  be  permitted  to 
die,  if  need  be,  in  peace. 

When  the  death  of  a  patient  under  my  care 
occurs  I  am  most  anxious  that  no  stone  should  be 
left  unturned  to  exhibit  the  cause.  In  this,  my 
seventh  death  in  four  years'  practice  in  Seattle, 
I  find  my  diagnosis  and  prognosis  completely  cor- 
roborated. I  was  assisted  in  the  autopsy  by  two 
old-line  physicians  and  by  the  deputy  coroner. 
The  results  of  the  post-mortem  examination  were 
as  follows: 

Mr.  Rader's  viscera  showed  the  most  abnormal 
characteristics  it  has  been  my  fortune  to  observe 
in  years  of  post-mortem  work.  The  lungs  were 
adherent  at  every  point  to  the  pleural  cavity  as 
well  as  to  the  diaphragm  in  places.  The  heart  in 
fair  condition.  Stomach  dilated  and  prolapsed. 
Gall  bladder  in  three  distinct  pouches,  any  one  of 
which  was  the  size  of  the  normal  sac,  and  two 
of  these  sections  were  filled  with  126  gall  stones 
of  one  grain  to  half  an  ounce  in  weight;  the 
largest  was  3  inches  in  circumference  one  way 
and  4  inches  the  other  way.  The  small  intes- 
tines collapsed  to  the  pelvis  and  midway  intus- 
suscepted    so    that    a    section    of   two    measured 


140  THE    FASTING   CURE 

yards  occupied  but  five  inches  in  length;  por- 
tions of  these  were  of  infantile  development.  The 
transverse  colon  lay  anterior  to  the  descending 
colon  throughout  its  extent,  while  the  ascending 
and  descending  colon  showed  infantile  size  and 
cartilaginous  structure.  The  sigmoid  bend  and 
rectum  were  of  diameter  not  larger  than  the 
adult  thumb  and  in  advanced  cartilaginous  state. 
The  kidneys  fair;  the  liver  enlarged  and  badly 
congested. 

The  conditions  exhibited  were  such  that  the 
wonder  in  any  mind  practised  in  the  care  of  the 
human  body  lies  in  the  thought  that  nature  was 
able  to  preserve  under  these  handicaps  this  man's 
life  until  the  forty-seventh  year.  To  me  this  is 
proof  positive  that  "  man  does  not  live  by  bread 
alone." 

The  facts  given  may  easily  be  verified.  Mr. 
Rader  fasted  because  he  had  to  fast.  He  could 
not  take  food  in  any  sort  or  in  any  manner,  and 
his  death  occurred  because  of  organic  disease 
beyond  repair.  He  was  never  without  water  and 
fruit  juices;  vegetable  broths  and  prepared  foods 
were  given  whenever  the  occasion  seemed  to  pre- 
sent itself,  but  always  with  painful  consequences. 
During  the  month  of  April  he  was  virtually  fast- 
ing, although  food  was  supplied  as  mentioned. 
It  is  not  at  all  remarkable  in  my  work  to  have 
patients  abstain  from  food  for  thirty,  forty,  and 
fifty  days,  although  by  far  the  greater  number  do 
not  require  this  length  of  time. 

Criticized  as  I  have  been  for  my  methods,  and 
realizing   that  the   combined   efforts   of   the   old 


APPENDIX  141 


schools  are  aimed  at  what  it  eventually  means, 
perhaps  a  definition  may  not  prove  amiss : 

Starvation  consists  in  denying  food,  either  by 
accident  or  design,  to  a  system  clamoring  for 
sustenance. 

Fasting  consists  in  intentional  abstinence  from 
food  by  a  system  non-desirous  of  sustenance  until 
it  is  rested,  cleansed,  and  ready  for  the  task  of 
digestion.     Food  is  then  supplied. 

The  conduct  of  the  health  and  humane  officers 
in  the  Rader  case  is  not  the  first  instance  of  their 
methods  of  procedure  that  it  has  been  my  fate  to 
experience.  In  the  latter  part  of  January,  1908, 
I  had  under  my  care  Mrs.  D.  D.  Whedon,  a  young 
married  woman  in  a  critical  state  of  health,  mother 
of  one  child  and  about  to  become  the  mother  of 
another.  Officious  neighbors  complained  to  the 
authorities  that  the  child  was  being  subjected 
to  the  fasting  method  and  was  slowly  starving. 
Without  warrant  these  creatures  of  authority  en- 
tered the  apartments  of  Mrs.  Whedon,  subjected 
her  to  a  bodily  examination  against  her  will  and 
protests,  took  her  child  from  her  by  force,  and 
when  her  husband  attempted  to  regain  possession 
of  his  daughter,  they  arrested  him  for  resisting  an 
officer  and  had  him  placed  in  the  city  jail.  I  also 
was  charged  at  this  time  with  practising  medicine 
without  a  license,  an  accusation  that  was  quashed 
on  appeal  to  the  superior  court. 

I  rather  court  an  investigation  of  my  work  and 
its  results,  successful  and  unsuccessful.  Thus  far 
the  methods  pursued  by  those  antagonistic  have 
been  the  very  ones  that  have  succeeded  in  inform- 


142  THE    FASTING   CURE 

ing  the  world  at  large  that  the  work  is  here,  that 
it  progresses,  else  why  the  furor?  It  is  here  to 
stay  and  to  do  what  the  truth  eventually  always 
does  —  prevail. 

The  autopsies  in  each  of  the  several  deaths  that 
have  occurred  in  my  practice  in  the  city  of  Seattle 
have  exhibited  organic  disease,  the  origin  of  which 
lay  in  the  early  years  of  life.  In  all  of  these 
bodies  arrested  development  of  one  or  other  of 
the  vital  organs  was  in  evidence,  and  in  the  major- 
ity the  injured  intestines  showed  cartilaginous 
structure  and  deformation  that  must  have  re- 
quired either  violent  shock  or  continued  functional 
disturbance  to  produce.  In  view  of  the  fact  that 
these  instances  cover  subjects  who  had  endeav- 
ored to  follow  orthodox  methods  until  orthodoxy 
proved  unavailing,  and  who  then  turned  to  the 
fast  and  its  accompaniments,  I  feel  perfectly  con- 
fident in  declaring  that  early  drug  treatment  is 
responsible  for  later  and  fatal  disease.  Nature 
had  endowed  each  of  these  patients  with  strong 
vitality;  each  of  them  had  suffered  from  severe 
functional  disorder  in  infancy;  each  had  been 
drug-drenched. 

Broadly  speaking,  there  is  no  drug  that  is  not  a 
poison,  stimulating  or  paralyzing  in  result,  and  in 
infancy  the  latter  is  doubly  apparent  and  appall- 
ing. It  needs  but  the  parallelism  between  the 
effect  of  an  application  of  a  glass  of  brandy  upon 
an  infant  and  an  adult  to  emphasize  this  state- 
ment. Consider  then  the  consequences  of  re- 
peated dosings  for  fevers,  colic,  colds,  and  the 
varied  category  of  infantile  disease,  and  conceive 


APPENDIX  I43 


the  results  upon  tender,  growing,  human  bodies. 
Not  one  of  us  but  has  these  sacred  relics  of  the 
days  of  powdered  dried  toads  and  desiccated  cow 
manure  to  blame  for  organs  arrested  in  develop- 
ment or  functionally  ruined. 

The  principle  embodied  in  the  intelligent  appli- 
cation of  fasting  for  the  cure  of  disease  is  not  to 
be  crushed  by  vilification.  The  knowledge  of  it, 
thanks  to  strenuous  attacks  by  the  medical  pro- 
fession, has  been  distributed  gratis  throughout  the 
English-speaking  world;  and  my  own  part  in  the 
work  of  propaganda  has  been  made  more  than 
easy  by  opposition  displayed.  I  believe  that  I 
have  a  cause  to  defend,  a  truth  to  uphold,  a  prin- 
ciple for  which,  if  need  be,  I  shall  die  fighting. 
Linda  Burfield  Hazzard. 

Seattle,  Wash.,  May  16,  19 10. 


Horace  Fletcher's  Fast 

Dec.  ii,  1910. 
Mr.  Horace  Fletcher, 

Care  Editor  of  Good  Health, 
Battle  Creek,  Mich. 
My  dear  Mr.  Fletcher,  —  It  must  have  been 
a  year  and  a  half  ago  that  we  had  our  talk  on  the 
subject  of  fasting;  you  promised  me  that  you 
would  investigate  it.  I  have  only  just  seen  the 
copy  of  the  November  Good  Health,  and  dis- 
covered that  you  carried  out  your  promise.  There 
are  some  things  in  connection  with  your  account 
about  which  I  want  to  ask  you. 


144  THE    FASTING   CURE 

You  say  that  you  have  come  to  agree  with  Dr. 
Kellogg,  that  autointoxication  continues  during 
the  fast;  and  that  your  reason  for  this  is  that  at 
the  end  of  a  couple  of  weeks  you  found  yourself 
developing  weakness,  bad  breath,  coated  tongue, 
etc.  You  broke  your  fast  because  these  symptoms 
grew  worse  and  worse.  Now  surely  if  a  person  is 
going  to  give  a  fair  trial  to  the  claims  of  the 
rasters,  he  should  follow  their  instructions,  and 
he  should  not  proceed  in  opposition  to  their  most 
important  advice.  You  say  that  for  four  days 
you  took  no  water,  and  that  after  that  you  took 
only  a  pint  or  so  a  day.  In  this  you  violated  the 
leading  injunction  of  every  advocate  of  fasting 
with  whose  writings  I  am  acquainted;  I  have  read 
the  books  of  Bernarr  Macfadden,  C.  C.  Haskell, 
and  Dr.  L.  B.  Hazzard,  all  of  whom  have  treated 
scores  and  hundreds  of  patients  by  means  of  the 
fast,  and  all  of  whom  are  strenuous  on  the  point 
that  one  should  drink  as  much  water  as  possible. 
I  myself  while  fasting  have  taken  at  least  a  glass 
every  hour.  I  believe  that  a  very  great  deal  of 
your  trouble  may  have  been  caused  by  your  pro- 
cedure in  this  respect. 

Another  point  which  you  do  not  mention  is 
whether  or  not  you  took  an  enema  during  the  fast. 
This  is  a  very  important  point.  It  may  very  well 
be  true  that  poisons  are  excreted  into  the  intestinal 
tract,  and  that  owing  to  lack  of  food  they  are  re- 
absorbed; if  we  can  aid  nature  by  washing  these 
poisons  out  at  once,  can  we  not  overcome  this 
difficulty?  May  not  the  reason  for  the  non- 
success  of  your  fast  lie  here? 


APPENDIX  I45 


If  it  be  true  that  the  fast  leads  to  constantly  in- 
creasing autointoxication,  how  do  you  account  for 
those  phenomena  which  are  summed  up  in  the 
phrase,  "  the  complete  fast "  ?  «I  personally  do 
not  advocate  the  complete  fast;  I  only  advocate 
the  investigation  of  it.  I  have  never  taken  one, 
but  I  have  letters  from  many  people  who  have 
taken  them,  and  they  are  in  agreement  upon  the 
point  that  there  comes  a  time  during  the  fast  when 
the  tongue  clears,  the  breath  becomes  pure,  and 
hunger  manifests  itself  in  unmistakable  form. 
How  can  this  possibly  be  true  if  Dr.  Kellogg's 
explanation  of  the  symptoms  of  fasting  is  correct? 
Would  it  not  happen  just  to  the  contrary,  would 
not  the  symptoms  of  autointoxication  increase, 
until  death  through  poisoning  resulted? 

Dr.  Kellogg's  argument  is  a  very  plausible  one; 
for  many  years  it  sufficed  to  keep  me  from  trying 
the  experiment  of  the  fast.  I  know  that  it  has 
kept  many  other  people.  His  claim  is,  in  brief, 
that  during  the  fast  the  body  is  living  off  its  own 
tissue;  that  we  are  therefore  meat-eaters,  and 
even  cannibals,  while  fasting.  We  are  living  on 
a  kind  of  food  which  is  over-rich  in  proteid,  and 
which  generates  excessive  quantities  of  uric  acid, 
indican,  etc.  This,  as  I  say,  sounds  plausible,  but 
I  found  by  actual  experiment  that  the  facts  do 
not  work  out  according  to  the  theory.  I  myself 
have  taken  a  week's  fast  recently,  with  perfect  suc- 
cess. During  this  time  I  had  not  one  particle  of 
weakness  or  trouble  of  any  sort.  Perhaps  it  may 
be  that  my  body  was  excreting  undue  amounts  of 
uric  acid  and  indican,  but  I  did  not  know  it,  and  it 


I46  THE    FASTING   CURE 

did  me  no  harm  so  far  as  I  could  discover.  I  am 
much  less  afraid  of  the  consequences  of  living 
from  my  own  body  tissue,  since  I  have  tried  for 
myself  the  experiment  of  living  on  the  tissues  of 
other  animals. 

I  am  trying  to  get  at  the  truth  about  these  ques- 
tions, and  I  know  that  you  are  trying  to  do  it  also. 
For  three  years  I  did  myself  incalculable  harm  by 
accepting  blindly  statements  that  meat  was  the 
prime  cause  of  autointoxication,  together  with 
other  high  proteid  food.  I  lived  on  starches  and 
sugars,  grew  pale  and  thin  and  chilly,  and,  as  I 
was  accustomed  to  phrase  it,  was  never  more  than 
fifteen  minutes  ahead  of  a  headache.  I  can  give 
myself  a  headache  at  any  time  at  present  by  two 
or  three  days  of  eating  rice,  potatoes,  white  flour, 
and  sugar.  Apparently  I  cannot  give  it  to  myself 
by  eating  any  possible  quantity  of  broiled  lean 
beef.  So  far  as  I  can  make  out,  beef  is  the  one 
article  of  diet  which  never  does  me  any  harm,  no 
matter  how  much  of  it  I  eat.  The  same  thing  is 
true,  apparently,  with  my  little  boy. 

I  wish  you  would  tell  me  what  you  think  about 
all  this.  I  wish  that  I  could  induce  you  to  try  the 
experiment  of  fasting  again  with  the  use  of  the 
enema  and  the  copious  water  drinking.  Still  more 
do  I  wish  that  you  could  be  induced  to  try  it  with 
some  people  who  need  it  —  some  people  who  are 
desperately  ill,  and  who  have  not  been  able  to 
get  well  by  following  the  low  proteid  diet. 
Sincerely, 

Upton  Sinclair. 


Appendix  147 


Norwich,  Conn.,  U.  S.  A. 

Dec.  23,  1910. 

My  dear  Mr.  Sinclair,  —  Your  valued  favor 
of  the  14th  inst.  received  enclosing  copy  of  your 
letter  to  Horace  Fletcher.  I  have  read  your  letter 
to  Mr.  Fletcher  with  much  interest,  and  I  have 
also  read  Mr.  Fletcher's  letter  to  Dr.  Kellogg  in 
Good  Health. 

I  am  so  crowded  with  work  that  I  cannot  take 
the  time  to  write  you  on  this  subject  of  Fasting  as 
I  would  like.  I  have  had  nearly  seventeen  years' 
experience  studying  and  practising  the  "  no-break- 
fast plan  and  fasting  for  the  cure  of  disease."  I 
have  followed  the  no-breakfast  plan  all  that  time 
without  a  single  break,  and  I  know  it  has  been 
of  exceedingly  great  value  to  me.  It  has  also 
been  my  privilege  and  pleasure  to  advise  in  thou- 
sands of  cases  covering  nearly  all  forms  of  disease, 
and  where  the  Law  of  Fasting  has  been  followed 
faithfully,  there  have  always  been  splendid  results. 

Aside  from  the  omission  of  the  breakfast,  I 
have  fasted  a  great  many  times  from  one  day  to 
four  weeks,  and  always  the  results  have  been  bene- 
ficial. This  could  not  have  been  the  case  if  Dr. 
Kellogg's  contention  is  correct,  that  autointoxi- 
cation continues  and  increases  during  a  fast.  If 
his  idea  is  correct  on  this  point,  instead  of  one 
improving  and  at  last  overcoming  the  disease  en- 
tirely, there  would  not  only  be  a  continuation  of 
the  disease  but  an  increase,  and  death  would  nat- 
urally result.  Should  autointoxication  continue 
and  increase  while  one  is  fasting,  the  time  would 


I48  THE    FASTING  CURE 

not  come  when  the  tongue  would  be  clean  and 
natural  hunger  manifest  itself.  On  the  contrary, 
there  would  be  an  increase  of  the  coating  on  the 
tongue  until  death  finally  resulted. 

I  think  if  Mr.  Fletcher  had  continued  his  fast 
until  his  tongue  had  become  clean,  which  certainly 
would  be  the  case,  he  would  have  written  a  very 
different  letter.  In  the  case  of  Mrs.  Tarbox, 
whose  letter  I  enclose,  on  the  thirty-seventh  day 
of  her  fast,  her  tongue  was  perfectly  clean  and 
she  had  natural  hunger,  and  she  was  well  on  the 
way  to  recovery  from  the  terrible  cancerous  growth 
and  condition  in  which  I  found  her.  Since  Mrs. 
Tarbox'  cure,  I  have  had  several  other  cases  of 
cancer  cured  through  fasting.  You  will  note  the 
case  of  Mrs.  Hobson,  copy  of  whose  letter  I  en- 
close, and  the  case  of  Mr.  Davis  is  another  very 
interesting  case  as  well  as  that  of  Mrs.  Osborne. 
These  persons  would  not  have  been  cured  if  auto- 
intoxication had  been  going  on  and  increasing. 

Dr.  Dewey's  contention  I  know  to  be  true,  that 
during  a  fast  the  heart,  lungs,  and  brain  are  sup- 
ported by  the  predigested  food  stored  up  in  the 
body.  These  organs  take  the  nourishment  and 
not  the  poison,  for  during  a  fast  the  eliminating 
organs  work  to  the  very  limit  to  force  the  poison 
out  of  every  cell  of  the  body,  so  that  during  a 
fast  all  the  poison  in  the  body  is  growing  less 
every  hour,  and  when  it  is  all  eliminated  nat- 
ural hunger  manifests  itself,  the  tongue  is  clean, 
and  the  patient  is  ready  to  build  up  and  have  a 
clean  physical  organism.  The  use  of  the  enema 
is  exceedingly  important  during  a  fast.    I  believe 


APPENDIX  149 


that  it  hastens  the  cure  at  least  twenty-five  per 
cent,  and  perhaps  more  than  that. 

Mr.  Fletcher's  own  letter  is  to  my  mind  a  refu- 
tation to  Dr.  Kellogg's  claim  as  to  the  continua- 
tion and  increase  of  autointoxication,  for  he  tells 
the  benefits  that  he  has  received  during  his  fast 
of  seventeen  days,  and  those  benefits  would  have 
been  greatly  increased  if  he  had  continued  the  fast 
until  his  tongue  was  clean.  His  sense  of  taste 
had  become  so  refined  by  the  fast  that  his  food 
was  more  delicious  than  ever  before,  which  showed 
that  the  refining  process  had  been  going  on  all 
through  his  body.  Another  benefit  that  he  men- 
tions is  the  lessening  of  his  desire  for  sugar,  that 
he  is  satisfied  with  the  sugar  sweet  that  is  in  the 
food  itself,  which  is  so  much  more  healthful  than 
the  cane  sugar.  Another  thing  that  he  speaks  of 
is  the  reduction  in  his  weight,  which  he  needed. 
I  sincerely  hope  that  Mr.  Fletcher  will  fast  again, 
and  make  it  a  complete  fast,  for  I  think  he  will 
have  a  very  different  story  to  tell  from  what  he 
tells  in  this  letter. 

Charles  Courtney  Haskell. 


Dec.  28,  19 10. 

Dear  Mr.  Sinclair,  —  I  have  your  letter  of 
the  14th  inst.  and  its  enclosures. 

To  those  who  have  carefully  and  scientifically 
undergone  or  advised  the  fast,  the  cause  of  the 
symptoms  that  Dr.  Kellogg  and  all  of  the  rest  of 
us  recognize  as  indicating  self-poisoning,  is  readily 


150  THE    FASTING  CURE 

discovered  to  lie  in  the  inability  of  the  organs  of 
elimination  to  promptly  convey  from  the  body  the 
products  of  food  supplied  in  excess  of  digestion. 
It  is  a  conclusion  that  cannot  be  escaped  that,  when 
the  refuse  from  broken-down  tissue  and  from  food 
ingested  beyond  the  needs  of  the  body  is  dis- 
charged into  the  intestines,  and  when  means  of 
removal  are  not  at  hand,  re-absorption  at  once 
begins  and  continues  until  the  canal  is  cleansed. 
Self-poisoning,  autointoxication,  ensues,  and  all 
of  its  symptoms  were  emphatically  shown  in  the 
fast  of  seventeen  days  that  Mr.  Fletcher  essayed. 
These  results  are  also  often  observed  when  feed- 
ing is  in  progress,  and  in  this  connection  I  refer 
to  an  article  written  by  Dr.  Kellogg  for  Good 
Health  in  the  summer  of  1908.  In  it  he  says, 
"  The  writer's  observations,  extending  over  a  con- 
siderable number  of  years,  have  brought  him  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  cases  which  are  benefited 
by  fasting  are  practically  without  exception  cases 
of  autointoxication,  generally  cases  of  intestinal 
autointoxication,  though  perhaps  also  including 
some  cases  of  metabolic  autointoxication."  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  Doctor  has  not  made  it  quite 
clear  just  why,  if  the  fast  is  the  certain  producer 
of  the  condition,  he  recommends  it  for  the  cure  of 
the  condition.  Perhaps  "  similia  similibus  "  or 
"  the  hair  of  the  dog  theory  "  is  implanted  in  the 
Doctor's  ego. 

As  we  review  the  situation,  covering  in  origin 
thousands  and  thousands  of  years  of  wrong  living, 
the  facts  are  patent.  The  processes  of  digestion 
and  assimilation  as  functions  have  long  since  lost 


APPENDIX  151 


natural  expression.  Drugs  and  heredity  have  cre- 
ated in  them  an  inability  to  cope  with  their  work 
without  assistance,  and  have  in  many  instances 
caused  a  positive  cessation  of  normal  action. 

Dr.  Kellogg  would  have  us  accept  his  dictum 
that  the  cause  of  loss  of  weight  during  the  fast  is 
to  be  found  in  the  impoverished  state  of  the  blood, 
and  in  the  fact  that,  food  being  denied,  no  up- 
building of  tissue  can  occur.  Can  he  explain  in 
this  manner  the  wasting  of  tissue  in  illness  when 
food  is  regularly  supplied?  It  should  be  readily 
understood  that,  in  either  instance,  the  process  of 
elimination  of  decomposed  excess  food  has  at  last 
become  the  predominant  function  of  the  diseased 
system.  Fasting  is  the  voluntary  act  that  permits 
rapid  accomplishment  of  the  result;  and  disease 
itself  is  but  Nature's  attempt  to  cleanse  and  purify 
by  means  of  elimination.  The  longer  this  thought 
is  dwelt  upon,  and  the  more  its  details  are  verified 
by  experiment,  the  stronger  becomes  the  convic- 
tion that  we  are  facing  the  truth  of  the  matter. 

When  coated  tongue,  foul  breath,  and  vertigo 
appear,  whether  feeding  or  fasting,  hunger  is 
absent.  It  must  have  disappeared  many  days 
before  these  signs  became  acute,  although  Na- 
ture's warnings  did  not  fail  of  display.  The  sen- 
sation of  hunger,  the  desire  for  food  for  the  pur- 
pose of  restoring  cell  life,  is  the  human  body's 
greatest  natural  safeguard.  A  sentinel  of  lower 
rank  is  the  sense  of  taste,  which,  however,  like 
other  outposts,  often  becomes  debauched  and 
valueless.  But  hunger  never  can  be  turned  from 
its  protecting  task,  and  it  cannot  be  stimulated  into 


152  THE   FASTING   CURE 

action.  Hunger  is  the  one  natural  function  that 
is  incorruptible,  for  once  abused  it  withdraws. 
Its  deceptive  counterpart,  appetite,  is  the  product 
of  taste-stimulation,  and,  as  Mr.  Fletcher  says, 
takes  upon  itself  the  guise  of  habit.  Or,  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  text  of  my  book,  M  Appetite  is  crav- 
ing; Hunger  is  desire.  Craving  is  never  satisfied; 
but  Desire  is  relieved  when  Want  is  supplied. 
Eating  without  Hunger  or  pandering  to  Appe- 
tite at  the  expense  of  Digestion  makes  Disease 
inevitable." 

Had  real  normal  hunger  been  present  when  Mr. 
Fletcher  broke  his  fast,  the  demand  for  food 
would  have  been  so  great  and  so  insistent  that  no 
denial  would  have  been  tolerated.  Mr.  Fletcher 
states  that  he  did  not  want  food  until  he  had 
tasted  it,  —  a  clear  case  of  taste-stimulation  or 
appetite.  Even  this  was  momentary  and  was  but 
the  expiring  flame  of  taste  relish  left  after  seven- 
teen days  free  from  the  progressive  accumulation 
of  excess  food.  Despite  his  care  in  the  selection 
and  the  mastication  of  his  food,  Mr.  Fletcher 
must  still  have  continually  eaten  without  hunger, 
and  must,  as  a  result,  have  stored  within  his  sys- 
tem an  unusual  amount  of  material  beyond  the 
needs  of  his  body.  Had  this  not  been  true,  he 
would  not  have  exhibited  the  coated  tongue,  foul 
breath,  and  vertigo.  Hunger  would  have  been 
ever  present,  and  it  would  have  been  impossible 
for  him  to  fast. 

My  only  comment  upon  the  neglect  of  the 
enema  that  seems  to  have  occurred  in  the  conduct 
of  Mr.  Fletcher's  fast  is  that  it  was  a  most  vital 


APPENDIX  153 


error.  The  enema  is  absolutely  necessary.  The 
question  of  diet  also  need  not  be  discussed,  for 
experience  shows  that  the  feeding  of  the  body  is 
a  matter  of  individual  requirement.  If  normal 
physical  balance  be  ever  reached,  fixed  laws  to 
govern  the  diet  problem  could  be  formulated.  In 
its  present  state,  argument  resolves  itself  into  mere 
utterances  of  individual  opinion  and  prejudice. 
Faithfully  yours, 
Linda  Burfield  Hazzard. 


Mil 


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